


The Performance of Our Lifetime

by Vanilla98



Series: Avengers in University [3]
Category: Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, BAMF Thor (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Clint Barton & Kate Bishop Friendship, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Daddy Issues, Established Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Established Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Natasha Romanov & Jessica Jones Friendship, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Performing Arts, Protective Avengers, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Thor Friendship, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:57:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanilla98/pseuds/Vanilla98
Summary: Back to school again for a new semester, Clint and Natasha are gearing up for the annual dance competition. But trouble in the form of Wilson Fisk arrives to mess the couple's lives up. Will Clint and Natasha get to dance together and stop Wilson Fisk from winning the competition using his power and status?Tony really regrets choosing drama as one of his modules. Thor is helping him out and he has the full support from his friends and boyfriend Steve. But things could really have been better. Question is, can Tony do well for this module?





	1. Back to School Again

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> Part 3 of this series is here! This part focuses on Clint and Natasha's relationship along with Steve and Tony's. There's a lot of exciting things going on in this story, so I hope you guys are pumped!
> 
> I'll be uploading the chapters on the weekends, hopefully I won't be too busy or hold back the chapters for too long, because I've started my internship already. :")  
> Also, characters and tags will be updated as the story progresses. You can choose to read this story as a standalone form, or follow the series by reading part 1 and 2 because they're all interconnected. I'll be mentioning any key points from the previous parts so, no worries. :)
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this story! Feedback is welcomed, so just comment if you want to say anything! :)  
> Thank you so much for all your support and for bringing this series this far! I appreciate this a lot, guys. 
> 
> Happy reading!!! :)
> 
> *There is a slight amount of violence in this chapter.*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a brand new semester and Steve, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and Thor are already needed to stop a fist fight. Clint and Natasha are signing up for the dance competition and Tony meets Justin Hammer.

Multiple alarm clocks were going off at once, waking the students up for another brand new semester in school. Some of them managed to win the battle against the snooze button, while some others succumbed to it.

8am in the campus was a truly magnificent moment. The sun’s golden glow would wash over the buildings, casting its rays onto the grass patch outside where most of the students loved to sit together during breaks.

At the walkways, the student population flooded, with some of them jogging to class. 

In Building A, Janet Van Dyne and Jane Foster were running up and down the hallway, making sure everyone were awake. Jane knocked on 6-39’s room door, hoping at least someone had gotten up. She gave another knock after 20 seconds. 

“There’s no one,” she told Janet, with a look of concern on her face.

“Ah, then they already left the apartment,” Janet shrugged. “Come in, let’s eat breakfast before running to campus.”

Jane nodded her head with a frown. “Where are they this early…?”

The answer to that question could be found in the School of Engineering, in the concourse level, beside a bunch of lockers.

“You punk! Come at me,” Tiberius Stone was challenging someone, particularly at a guy who was curled up in front of his feet like a comma. “Come at me, Justin!!”

Ty gave Justin Hammer’s abdomen area a kick, causing him to shout out in pain. A crowd had gathered around them, with some of them videoing the entire ordeal. None of them stepped in to help.

Early morning brawls were quite the entertainment.

“I don't wanna fight you, Ty,” Hammer wheezed out. 

“When you mentioned my father, you already dragged yourself into the shit show, Hammer!” Ty hissed before hauling Hammer up. 

He slammed Hammer against the grey lockers, rattling them wildly. Ty then punched him in his nose and caused him to bleed. 

A few other students cheered at that, obviously wanting the stronger to win and the weaker to simply die in the concourse level. 

“Alright ladies, break it up,” Natasha Romanoff’s voice came through. 

She pushed through the crowd and managed to get in, paving way for the rest of her friends to get through. 

“What's the issue here?” Clint Barton asked. 

Thor Odinson and Steve Rogers were already holding Hammer and Ty back. 

“Okay okay, what's up?” Tony Stark asked. When he saw Steve holding Ty, he rolled his eyes. The last thing Tony wanted today was to see Ty. “Obviously you guys got this. I'll see you all later for lunch.”

“Oh hey, Anthony!” Ty sneered. He spat before grinning at him. “Fancy seeing you here with your new friends.”

“I wouldn't say the same,” Tony cleared his throat. 

“Look guys… we had it under control,” Justin Hammer tried to yank out of Thor's grip. But failed. 

“Show’s over guys. Head back to your first lessons now,” Bruce Banner sighed. 

“Why should we listen to you?” Ty nearly lunged at him. 

“Because we have sent a senior lecturer and his son packing out of this school. So I would suggest you do as he says,” Steve replied with smug. 

Ty looked like he wanted to retaliate. But he decided to keep his mouth shut. Wise choice. 

“What's going on here?” a soft yet firm male voice was heard. 

The crowd, or what was left of it, moved to the side to reveal Professor Yinsen. “What's all these commotion at 8?”

“Cat fight, professor,” Tony shrugged. 

“Okay, both of you, with me to my office now,” Professor Yinsen ordered. 

Ty managed to yank out of Steve's grip. He adjusted his shirt collar and jacket. 

“You better watch out, Anthony,” Ty pointed at Tony and glared at him. “Watch out because you'll never see me coming.”

“Okay okay,” Professor Yinsen grabbed both Hammer and Ty. 

“You okay, babe?” Steve asked Tony, who looked like he was frozen from the inside out. 

“Yeah… yeah yeah Steve,” Tony started to breathe again. 

“I'll see you later for lunch in 6-40.” Steve kissed his boyfriend's lips. Tony barely kissed back, but he flung his arms around Steve, hugging him tightly. 

“Enjoy your day, guys!” Clint waved at them. 

“You too, Clint,” Tony waved back. “I'll go to the lecture theater first. See you.”

He adjusted his bag and walked away, leaving Steve to stare at him blankly. 

“Let's go, friend Steve,” Thor gave his back a pat, waking him up from his reverie. 

Both Thor and Steve have taken the same cross-disciplinary subject. They were to attend lectures together and luck had it, they had ended up in the same tutorial class.  

They started to walk to the entrance of the Engineering school, to turn to their Humanities school, where their first lesson was. 

“Well… have fun, Tasha,” Clint grinned. 

She leaned in and gave his lips a quick kiss. 

“Try not to die,” she gave him a playful shove. “Remember, we're signing up for the dance competition!” 

“Woohoo sure sure,” Clint said. “I’ll go first, and sign up for us both. But remember, you need to leave your signature there. Gosh I need to be quick because the spots might run out!”

“Clint,” Natasha brushed back his hair. “I promise you, we’re going to get in and thrash Wilson Fisk. We’re gonna do this together.”

“Promise accepted,” Clint grinned. He gave Natasha’s rosy cheek a kiss, before letting her go. 

Natasha walked away with Bruce while Clint turned to the School of Business, alone. 

 

...

 

Tony was sitting right at the back of the lecture theater. He hated the front with a passion as i t lacked the privacy one could get if they sat at the back. 

He booted up his laptop and sat back, sighing in content. The rest of his cohort were slowly filling up the lecture theater. Most of them sat down with their cliques, chatting excitedly and animatedly about their little break. 

Tony chose not to associate himself with any of the cliques. He was smart enough to be by himself, but also be everyone’s friend. It worked when looking for group mates for projects. Tony knew who to join and who not to join. It’s a fantastic strategy, really. 

Just then, Justin Hammer shuffled in to the lecture hall, with a plaster on his face. He looked around, with a sad look. He then decided to join Tony at the back. 

“Hey,” Tony greeted him. He pushed his bag back, so that Hammer could walk in. 

“Hey Stark,” Hammer grunted back. He sat down and took out his laptop. 

Tony activated his Whatsapp web, and immediately entered a spam of messages from the level 6 group chat. 

Now renamed the Heroic Shenanigans. 

Janet was asking the confirmation of the menu from her friends. Basically, it was Jan versus Jane, on whose menu was going to win. Everyone were voting on Whatsapp right now.

Jan was the one cooking, along with Jane, Pepper and Wanda, regardless of the menu chosen.

The thought of cooking for an entire level was only born yesterday, when Jan was watching a cooking show. There was a discussion on Whatsapp, and they decided to cook lunch today. The decision was made really easily, no sweat at all.

Since the 4 girls ended class early, they were going to have time to get the ingredients and cook it. 

 

Janet's menu

Appetizer

Spinach cheddar grilled cheese

Main course 

Homemade meatball spaghetti with Jan's secret sauce 

Dessert 

Chocolate and peanut butter bars (no bake)

 

Jane's menu

Appetizer 

Buffalo wings with cheese dip

Main course

Homemade pepperoni pizza with cheese stuffed crust

Dessert

California style cheesecake

 

Tony could already hear his stomach grumble. He couldn’t wait for his class to end. It was only an hour’s lecture from 9am, followed by a 10am-12pm tutorial. After that, he was free and was entitled to do anything he wanted to do.

He ended up voting for Jane’s menu, because come on, who wouldn’t want pizza?

Just then, he heard the professor’s voice addressing the students gathered.

“Good morning, it’s 9am,” Professor Yinsen greeted them. The entire lecture theater went silent. “Glad to see you all here. Ah… it just warms my heart to see a full lecture theater. After half the semester goes by, I bet over three-quarters of you will disappear from this theater.”

A roar of laughter erupted from the students, and one girl’s high-pitched cackling got to Tony. It belonged to Whitney Frost, and she was seated near the front with her group of friends.

Tony rolled his eyes and looked back at his chat. Jane’s menu was already winning. There was even a threat from Jan that she was going to poison their food.

Happy suggested diplomacy, that they could try Jan’s menu another day.

Tony let out a chuckle as he read the chat. 

“Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” Hammer asked him. 

“No,” Tony said. “Just have to be careful. Also, I can multitask.”

“I wish I could do that,” Hammer sighed. 

“Multitask? It takes practice. But I wouldn’t recommend because it’s bad for your brain,” Tony said, easily typing a reply in the chat and listening to Professor Yinsen. 

The professor was talking about the tests and assignments that was in this module, integrated circuit applications. This was the module that would be heavy in quizzes and the only one with one individual project and two group projects. 

“Seriously, if he sees you continuously staring into your screen, he’ll start to suspect,” Hammer was getting fidgety.

“Paranoia ruins this, Justin,” Tony sighed. 

“Paranoia is healthy,” Hammer explained, his voice getting a bit louder. “It keeps you in check.”

“Really, it keeps you in check? It stresses you out and gives you a heart attack!” Tony threw his hands up in the air.

“Yes, Mr. Stark and Mr. Hammer?” Professor Yinsen called their names. The entire lecture theater turned to look at them. “Care to tell us what you two are debating about?”

“Um… uhm, we were… talking about…” Hammer was clearly trying.

“We were talking about how this module was filled with heart attacks, pleasant heart attack surprises that we must slowly uncover, professor,” Tony smoothly managed.

Some of the students started to laugh at that. Even professor Yinsen cracked up. Whitney Frost let out a huff before turning away, shaking her head.

“He has a point,” he nodded at Tony before continuing. “You are going to have quizzes everyday, and as Mr. Stark has so eloquently put it, pleasant heart attack surprises await you.”

Tony was clearly Professor Yinsen’s favorite student. He had taken him for a module during the first semester, and it was related to the designing of circuit boards. Tony had spoken to him about clean energy and how he wanted to help people out once he took the company’s reign. No other student had reached out and tugged Yinsen’s heartstrings as tightly as Tony had done. 

“God, they all laughed at us,” Hammer said. He sank back further onto his seat, looking distraught.

“So what?” Tony asked him. He had already closed the chat and was opening up his lecture notes.

“They all think we’re weird. There’s no way we can make friends.”

“Justin… we’re all weird. Sometimes you don’t need everyone to be your friend. You need only the couple of them who are true and would stick with you.” 

For the rest of the lecture, Hammer didn’t talk to Tony. If anything, he was letting Tony’s words sink in deep. Hammer was processing it and trying to understand how some people could have such thick skin in this harsh world.

 

...

 

Clint had a small break before his module on Human Resources started at 10am. He decided to go sign up for the dance competition. So, he bought a packet of cookies and headed toward the Grand Sports and Arts Center. 

He was expecting a huge line; come on, the Annual Grand Dance Competition was the talk of the campus, after the Christmas celebrations, of course. Since many people were usually expected to sign up, the committee only gave space for 30 students. For group dancers, one member had to sign up for the entire group and register them. A bit of a burden, but worth the time.

The limited spaces was why Clint decided to rush after his first lecture to sign up. God knew if there was still space for him and Natasha.

He walked across the carpark, and entered the basketball court, which was empty. He turned right to go to the booth, only to find himself stopping dead on his tracks. What in the actual fuck? There wasn’t a single person in line to sign up… Was it over?

“Hey, Karen!” Clint smiled as he walked toward the booth. “Is the booth closed?”

Karen Page, who was sitting there looking bored while twirling her blonde hair let out a snort. “Hey Barton. No, line’s still open.”

“Then… what’s the issue?” Clint asked. 

“Wilson Fisk an acceptable issue?” Karen retorted. “I’ve been sitting here since 9, and Fisk came over within five minutes, cut the line, signed up under the random pair selection and left. After he placed his name, the line dispersed, and not many people signed up for it.”

Clint felt his heart sink upon hearing that news. This was bad. It meant Fisk was going to win indefinitely, no matter how good the other competitors were.

“You still want to sign up?” Karen asked.

Clint leaned against the table and sighed. What was the worst thing that could happen if he signed up for it? Fisk would win. Natasha and himself would be somewhere in the top 5 or 10. Experience was experience at the end of the day. But this… this challenge was something that could definitely be used. Natasha would do the same too. 

“Yeah,” Clint said firmly. “What’s life without a challenge, right? Plus, Natasha promised we would do this together. I’m signing up for her too.”  

“Sign up here,” Karen smiled as finally, there was someone entertaining her here. “Put your names under the pairing section. And then you sign here. Let Nat sign when she comes.”

“Wow, Barton is signing up! How exciting? And that means I should sign up too!” a familiar female voice made Clint turn and look at her. 

“Kate Bishop dancing? I’ll believe it when I actually see it,” Clint grinned at her. He gave her a side-hug, and then proceeded to write his and Natasha’s names down on the paper.

“Gimme the pen!” Kate said and grabbed the pen away from Clint after he placed his signature on the paper. She too, signed placing her name under the pairing column, and not solo dancer.

“Who is your pair?” Karen asked Kate.

“Random selection. I love surprises,” Kate replied and passed the pen back to Karen. 

“Look at you,” Clint let out a chuckle as he pushed himself up onto the table. He sat there while eating his cookies. “I didn’t peg you to be the dancing type.”

“Me neither,” Kate said. “As in, I didn’t think you’re the dancing type either.”

“So how do you two know each other?” Karen couldn’t help herself but ask.

“We’re in the archery club, we are taking a class together this semester, and after my girlfriend, she’s someone I trust,” Clint smiled, thinking back to the time when he first met Kate. “Karen, this is Kate Bishop. Kate, this is Karen Page, one of the committee members for the dance competition.”

Both the girls exchanged greetings.

“So, just how long are you gonna sit here?” Clint asked, munching on another piece of cookie. 

“A few more hours because my lessons start at 1 in the afternoon and end at 4. So my stupid ass decided to volunteer past 12pm, totally forgetting about lunch,” Karen sighed.

“Hey, at least your stupid ass gets to earn points for volunteering!” Kate tried to encourage her. “Come on Karen. You’ll survive.”

“Plus no one’s signing up,” Clint offered with a shrug.

“Ugh! If no one signs up, then no one entertains me! I’ll have to sit here alone and go through my Instagram explore page for hours!” Karen huffed. 

“You’ll be fine,” Clint jumped off the table. “Plus, Nat will come by in three hours. She’ll save your bored stupid ass!”

“For the record, Clint and Kate, only I’m allowed to call my ass stupid,” Karen gave them both a light-hearted glare. 

“If you say so, stupid ass,” Clint and Kate said together. 

“You two make quite the pair,” Karen chuckled. 

“Anyway, I gotta run back to class,” Clint said. “I left my bag there, and I don’t think Pepper is there to protect my valuables!”

“Pepper?” Kate scrunched her nose. “Do you have a salt in your class?”

“I have mustard, chilli sauce, ketchup and even guac, Kate,” Clint rolled his eyes. “It’s her nickname!”

“What’s her real name?” Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Virginia Potts,” Clint replied.

“Ah,” Kate nodded her head thoughtfully. “Best to stick with Pepper, then!”

“You’re so mean,” Karen was laughing away. She wiped the tears at the corners of her eyes. “Anyway, see you guys! Thanks for signing up!”

“Pleasure is ours,” Clint smiled.

He and Kate started to walk to Business School together. 

“How’s Natasha?” Kate asked.

“She’s fine,” Clint said. “How are you?”

“I’m fine as wine,” Kate winked at him. “So, I’ll see you for archery practice and class tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Clint said. “See you tomorrow! And don’t you even think about forgetting about that test for tomorrow’s class. I’ll personally aim an arrow at your head.”

“Only if you can get your arrow on me on time!” Kate quipped. “See ya, Clint-Mint!”

“That nickname is older than you!” Clint grinned at her as she ran down the carpark. 

He then tossed his cookie packet into the bin, after finishing the last cookie, and walked away to his class. Sheesh, next time his school bag stayed with him. It’ll be such a pain in the ass to lose either his phone or his wallet or both. 

Clint huffed at his own action and made his way to the classroom. 

His bag was safe. Pepper was indeed in class.

 

...

 

Natasha knew everyone’s eyes were looking her way. She also knew all she was wearing today were a pair of baggy track pants and a grey tank top and a brown long cardigan. Beside her, Jessica Jones was dressed in jeans, a purple tank top and a black jacket. 

Lecture theaters were always cold.

Anyway, people were looking at her way because of how she looked. No one else could pull off such a look. She smirked to herself; attention was good. It would make Clint jealous and a jealous Clint was a cute overprotective sack of male energy.

“Eyes are on you,” Jessica scoffed as she took a piece of fry. Natasha and Jessica bought two packets of fries right after their lecture as they were hungry. Lunch at 6-40 still had time; especially since the latest update in the group chat indicated that their cheesecake had sunk in the middle, and they were remaking the cake. _Remaking_. Her stomach couldn’t wait for any remakes; Natasha was famished for that.

“On you too,” Natasha nodded at her. “You’re pulling the goth effect too.”

“Tasha, I’m wearing purple,” Jessica laughed.

Both of them were walking to the Grand Sports and Arts Center, with Jessica accompanying Natasha. They walked past the basketball court, which was being occupied by a few guys wearing shorts and the university’s varsity tank tops. One of them whistled at the girls, and another winked at them.

Natasha and Jessica ignored them. But they turned to each other and gave a knowing smirk.

Once they reached the booth, they stopped dead on their tracks. 

“So… did the registration end?” Jessica asked with her eyebrows raised.

Great. Hopefully Clint had managed place both their names down.

“Jess!” Karen waved at them enthusiastically after she spotted the both of them standing. 

“Hey,” Jessica smiled at her.

“Is the registration closed?” Natasha asked Karen, as both she and Jessica walked towards the booth.

“Long story cut short, Wilson Fisk,” Karen sighed. 

Natasha examined the sign up list while Jessica went on to ask more details about what had happened. She thrusted her fries packet at Jessica, who held it without looking at what Natasha was passing to her. 

Natasha saw Clint’s and her names under the pair-ups column. But… he hadn’t ticked the fixed pair option for the both of them… Really, Clint, you had to try out your luck here with random pairing?

Natasha rolled her eyes fondly. She signed beside her name and didn’t tick the fixed pair option either, just to play the game Clint was also playing. So far, only 20 people have signed up, with only 3 names representing a group. Damn. This was bad.

But, Fisk wasn’t a problem. He was just a challenge that was surely an enjoyment to face. That was exactly why Clint had placed their names down and hadn’t backed out. He too, loved challenges. 

“So yeah, he left and the entire line just… walked away,” Karen finished her explanation. Natasha gave the pen back to Karen. “Anyway, I decided to wait for you, Nat, because Clint said you’re interested too, and I needed your signature. I’m closing shop, now that you’ve signed up.”

“Wow, that bad huh,” Natasha noted and took back her packet of fries. She ate one, while helping Karen keep the clipboards on one of the plastic chairs. 

Jessica pulled the velvety sky blue table cloth off the table in one shot, and began to fold it. Karen was folding back the tables and joined Natasha in stacking the plastic chairs back. They worked in silence, pushing the stuff back into the props room, which smelled like damp wood. Props for dance, drama and even musical clubs were piled up high, reaching the ceiling. It was beyond absurd on how students retrieved them, especially when they were rushing…

Karen locked the doors once they were done. She took the clipboards and her school bag.

“Thank you for your help, both of you,” Karen smiled. 

“Pleasure is ours,” Jessica said while tying her hair into a ponytail. 

“And um… is it okay if… if I take one or two fries? I have a class right after this and… I forgot about my lunch,” Karen was stuttering very badly.

Natasha and Jessica shared a look.

“Have my entire packet, please,” Natasha offered her packet of fries to her. It was still full as Natasha hadn’t eaten much. 

“Here’s mine,” Jessica offered hers too. “I ate most of it, but… here.”

Karen looked crumpled. She was torn between taking one piece and taking both the packets.

“I have lunch waiting for me at 6-40,” Natasha assured Karen when she made no move. “Come on, just have ours. You need it more than us.”

Karen looked like her guard was up. But she sighed, releasing her guard along with it. “Thank you guys,” she said softly and took both the packet of fries. “Thank you.”

“Don’t need to thank us. What are friends for, right?” Jessica asked Karen. She gave her a hug, and Natasha joined in too. 

“Enjoy class,” Natasha grinned. 

“Oh, I’ll try to,” Karen smiled. She then started to walk away for her first lesson, while munching on the fries.

“So, what is cooking?” Jessica asked.

Both of them started to walk past the basketball court again. This time, they collectively ignored the looks they were getting from the guys. _All_ the guys.

“Jane’s menu; grilled cheese, pizza and a cheesecake,” Natasha replied. “The girls’ have a mostly free day today with little lessons and decided to cook lunch. How I wish I had that much of free time.”

Jessica started to laugh at that comment. 

It was true. The science school students were one of the busiest groups of students. Sometimes when Natasha saw Happy walking back to the hostel at 11am after his module, she got super jealous. Of course, being a professional, she didn’t say it out loud.

“Anyway, I’ll leave you here,” Jessica placed a hand on her good friend’s shoulder. “I’m meeting Luke for our study session.”

Natasha tilted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at Jessica with a smile. That smile turned into a smirk within seconds.

“Hey, not what you’re thinking!” Jessica insisted in a desperate manner.

“Sure sure,” Natasha snorted. “I believe you, Jess.”

Jessica scoffed, knowing Natasha did otherwise. She then walked away to the library, leaving Natasha to walk back to the hostel area alone.

Natasha was so not looking forward to seeing the state of 6-40, because Jan’s cooking had the capability to bring the roof down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think is the state of 6-40?  
> Let me know your thoughts about this chapter! :)


	2. Big Cuddly Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey and Tony talk to each other and Steve is being a protective cuddly bear! Also, there's a new wing added to the hostel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here's the next chapter for this story. I promise the next few chapters will kick start the action!  
> Thank you for your support so far everyone!  
> Happy reading! :)

Turned out, Natasha was right. 6-40 was lit. Not because Jan had set the kitchen on fire. But because of the noise that was coming from the apartment itself. Multiple people were having their own conversations in the living room. In the kitchen, Pepper and Wanda were trying to finish up making the second batch of cheesecake with the help of Steve.

The apartment was slowly filling up with people as each of them came back for either their lunch break or after their school had ended.

Natasha found Clint at the balcony chatting with Hank. She joined him after placing her bag on the couch.

Tony was one of them who was already there, and he had ran back once his class had ended. Right now, he was sitting in Rhodey’s room and talking to him. It was pretty much the only area that had privacy.

“So how’s life going?” Rhodey asked his best friend, who was sitting on his bed. 

“Fine, honeybear,” Tony smiled. “Already stopped a brawl this morning. Thanks for the heads up.”

“You’re welcome. I figured you heroes needed one anyway.”

“For what? To let the campus know who rules them?” Tony laughed.

“Oh yes, why not!” Rhodey shrugged and let out a snort. 

“I’m not even in that league, Rhodey,” Tony shook his head. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you, how’s things with Carol?”

“Huh,” Rhodey visibly stiffened. He looked away, outside his window.

“Is that redness I see on your cheeks?” Tony asked with mockery dripping from his tone.

“No,” Rhodey scowled. “We’re fine.”

“So you haven’t told her,” Tony pursed his lips. “Now now honeybear, what did I tell you about taking opportunities and enjoying life?”

“You think I’m that brave?”

“Yeah duh.”

Rhodey shook his head and started to laugh. “Dude… I’m scared I’ll mess this up.”

“You know what,” Tony sat forward. “You will mess up. It’s nature. So don’t be scared to make mistakes because… what if not making the mistake ends up being the biggest mistake you make in your life?”

“Sounds like you’re talking from experience, Tony,” Rhodey was looking all serious.

“I don't know what I would have done to myself if I allowed Whitney to get in my head, and not have this relationship with Steve… it just… haunts me. I wake up everyday and look at his sleepy face, I feel really thankful. Imagine if I decided to shut myself out…” Tony confessed. 

Rhodey gave him a soft smile. He pushed his chair closer to the bed and leaned forward, giving Tony's shoulder a pat. 

“I'm glad you're better, Tony. I am. You'll be alright.”

Just then, there was a knock on the room door. Before anyone could say ‘come in’, Jane opened door with a lot of force, the wind messed up Rhodey’s study table and sent his papers flying around the room. 

“Lunch is ready. We got the cheesecake right,” she grinned. 

“About time,” Rhodey stood up, not minding the mess made in his room. 

“How's your afternoon coffee?” Jane asked Tony, who was holding the cup in his hand. It was forgotten, and he hadn't tried it. So he took a sip and tried to hide his grimace. It was too thick and too bitter. 

“Yeah… kicking in,” Tony commented. “Who made this?”

“Jan.”

Tony sighed and got up, accidentally tipping the cup and spilling some of the thick black liquid onto Rhodey's bed. 

Unfortunately, Rhodey had seen it. “ Son of a bitch, Tony!!!” he tried to catch Tony by his collar but he scurried away, chucking the cup onto Jane's hand. 

Outside, Steve and Natasha were bringing out the food to the dining table. Clint was with Pepper, making sure the cheesecake was fine. 

“Hey Hank,” Tony gave his back a pat. 

“It's been a long time since I had a good dinner session with the people I love,” Hank said, his gaze faraway. 

“It's lunch though,” Tony said. 

“Yeah that too.”

Tony decided to not press on too much. He went to his boyfriend to give him a hand. 

“Tony, take the plates and cutlery.” Steve said while cutting the pizza into perfect triangular pieces.  

Tony rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen, nearly running into Jan. 

“That coffee was so thick, even I'm jealous of it.” Tony leaned against the counter and watched Jan in action. She was washing some of the pans that were used.

Jan snorted. “Don’t worry, I rectified it already. I mean, our attention was all on the cheesecake, you know!” 

Tony gave her an amused stare. Within the next 5 minutes, everyone had settled down and were ready to eat.

 

...

 

Later in the evening, Tony was binge eating the leftover cheesecake while studying his notes. He was sitting at the new wing that was just created for every level in all the buildings.

Basically, after turning right from the elevator, there used to be a big white wall. Now that wall was broken down and it had been extended into an open space, with wooden flooring, several potted plants, two benches and a couple of  cafeteria tables. It was for students to hang out and throw parties, or to study. It was their choice, was what Phil had told them. It was facing the campus and throwing parties would be a big question though. Oh well, parties were fun and who would stop them if they had one during the stipulated hours?

Tony, Steve, Bruce, Natasha, Clint and Thor were in for a surprise after they had come back from their little vacation in Malibu. They had freaked out when they saw the new wing once they had gotten out of the elevator. Clint got super excited and had crashed onto Pietro, sending him falling onto the wooden floor and his cup of coffee falling 6 floors down. His twin sister Wanda wasn’t impressed with that. 

Lucky for them, Phil hadn’t seen the coffee cup crashing near the Hostels' front gate. Bucky and Tony had quickly cleaned the mess up, giving each other a fist bump while grinning. 

Right now beside Tony, Natasha and Bruce were doing their works while eating sandwiches from the vending machines at level 1. 

“Tony,” Bruce sighed. “I can feel your stress.”

“What do you mean?” Tony asked while chewing a mouthful of cheesecake. Even his cheek was covered in it. 

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Stop being so stressed. You’re gonna be alright.”

“I’m not-” 

Before Tony could finish his sentence he started to have a bad coughing fit. He scrambled out of the cafeteria table he was sitting at and tried to get to his apartment. Smartass. Eating cheesecake but conveniently forgetting to keep a glass of water with him.

“He gonna die?” Bucky, who was sitting at the other cafeteria table asked. 

“I don’t think I’ll let him,” Happy said firmly. He was about to run to Tony when the elevator doors opened.

Phil stepped out, wearing an oversized pants with striped light blue shirt. “Kids, I have an announcement to make,” he clapped his hands to get their attention. “Gather your pals… Tony, are you okay?”

Tony was about to say he was fine but he felt the cheesecake on its return trip up, back to his mouth. Before he could turn away, he threw up on Phil, destroying his striped shirt. 

“Oh fuck!” Bucky said. This time, everyone ran to Tony and Phil. “I’ll call Stevie!”

Bucky ran to 6-39, while Happy went to his apartment to get Tony a glass of water.

“You owe me a shirt, Tony,” Phil grimaced. “What is this thick thing… what did you put inside of you?”

“Cheesecake,” Natasha sighed. She gave Tony’s back light yet firm pats. “Calm down, Tony.”

Tony slumped down against the wall, trying to control himself. Happy soon gave him water, but Tony pushed it away as he was beginning to get a grip. Steve, who was studying with Thor at their dining table, dashed across the hallway to his boyfriend. 

“Tony!” he called down sounding flustered. “I told you not to overeat the cheesecake!”

“I got nervous and just…” Tony tried to explain himself. 

“Okay kids look,” Phil sighed. “I gotta get back down to change. I’m here to tell you all that there is a new rule about the lights out.”

This got everyone’s attention. 

“Living room lights out was 11pm. Now, we’ve extended it to 12.30am. You can hang out here all the way until 2am,” Phil pointed at the new open area. “There will be night guards walking around. If they spot you after stipulated timings, then it’s trouble.”

“About time,” Bucky smiled. “Thanks Phil.”

“You’re welcome. Tell the others at your level,” Phil started to walk to the elevator. “Tony, take care of yourself.”

Tony gave Phil a weak thumbs up, before being hoisted up by Thor. Natasha stopped Steve before he followed Tony.

“Steve, he’s really nervous,” Natasha said. She placed her hand on Steve’s shoulder. “You should talk to him, see if you can get through to him. Bruce and I could feel his tension.”

“Thanks for letting me know, Nat,” Steve held Natasha’s hand that was on his shoulder. 

He then walked away, sighing.

 

…

 

Tony couldn’t sleep. In a few hours, he would be having his first lesson for his theatre module. To add to that, something else was also bothering him. But he couldn’t let that get to him, he knew it. 

He had to distract himself, so he was looking at some engineering notes from Professor Yinsen’s class. 

“Tony,” Steve called. “It’s late. And I think you need to come to bed.”

“No,” Tony said weakly. “If I sleep, all I’ll get are nightmares.”

He could hear Steve shuffling on the bed, probably getting out of it. He nearly flinched when he felt Steve’s arms envelope him from his back, hugging him. But he soon succumbed to the warmth.

“Oh you big cuddly bear,” Tony laughed, despite the stress he was feeling.

“The big cuddly bear feels your tension, and would like to assist you with it,” Steve said softly. “What is bothering you, honey?”

Tony felt like pouring everything out to Steve. About the fact that his most dreaded class was starting in exactly 7 hours, about how his modules were gonna get to him and about the fact that Tiberius openly declared that he was coming for Tony, in a scary way. But he didn’t want to add that pressure onto Steve, not when he had his own problems. Tony knew he was strong. He wouldn’t just cave under pressure that easily. Only, he’d get panic attacks and nightmares but oh well, what was new for him?

“Was it Ty?” Steve asked. He was resting his head at the crook of Tony’s neck. Steve gave Tony a light kiss. 

How the fuck did Steve… it’s as if he was a crystal ball and Steve could look into him and list his problems out.

“Yeah, yeah…” Tony sighed. “He got to me… yeah.”

“And we’re all here to protect you, Tony,” Steve assured his boyfriend. “I’m right here and I won’t let Ty or Whitney or anyone else hurt you.”

“And there comes my protective cuddly bear,” Tony chuckled. 

“Let’s go to bed, Tony. It’s 2 in the morning and you have a 9am class,” Steve said.

“I’m… not tired,” Tony shrugged. 

“After all these thoughts and that coughing fit?” Steve pursed his lips. “Fine, I know something that’ll make you sleep.”

“And what will that be?” Tony asked, licking his lips, knowing what Steve was implying. 

“Come to bed and you’ll find out,” Steve smirked against Tony’s neck. His hand snaked down Tony’s abdomen, all the way down south. 

“You..” Tony said in a raspy voice. “You’re such a dick!”

“I know you love me and it,” Steve said softly as he peppered kisses all over Tony’s neck. He managed to get Tony out of that chair and onto the bed. Mission accomplished.

If anyone heard any moans or shouts coming from Steve and Tony’s shared room, they pretended to ignore it and tried to go to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know how the story is so far :)


	3. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steve go for a little date, and Tony decides to help a friend out. Plus, Tony starts his first acting lesson with Thor!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!  
> I hope you're having a good weekend! Here's the next update and I hope you enjoy this. Thank you so much for your support so far!  
> And I gotta apologize in advance if I start to post late or stuff, because I'm really busy. But I'll always try my best to update the story!!
> 
> Happy reading! :)

All Steve told him was:

“Babe! There’s a new cafe that they just opened here. I’ll take you there from your school before I go off with Thor to meet my professor. Wait for me at the entrance, okay!”

When Tony heard that in his voicemail, he simply chuckled. He was walking out of Professor Yinsen’s tutorial class, which happened to be the last class of the day Tony had.

“Got a date today, Tony?” Professor Yinsen asked while walking with him.

“Kinda yes, professor,” Tony gave him a side smile. “He’s being really subtle about it.”

Professor Yinsen didn’t comment on the date being a guy.

“Just make sure he doesn’t distract you too much,” he stopped walking, prompting Tony to stop walking too. “You’re one of the best students here, Tony. Don’t let anyone or anything tell you anything different. In fact… you’re the top student in the cohort as of now. Ah, you didn’t hear it from me.”

Tony’s eyes widened to a whole new level. Top in his entire cohort?! Damn. This was what he wanted to hear, especially thinking about how badly he would be doing for his theater module.

“Thank you, professor Yinsen,” Tony smiled wholeheartedly. He could feel his heartbeat thumping loudly against his rib cage.

“Take care,” Professor Yinsen gave Tony’s shoulder a pat before he walked away.

He was top in his cohort? Was the end of the world here or something? Tony knew he was good, okay. But he didn’t know he was too good till he was his cohort’s topper. Well, what’s new? He’s too good in what he does anyway.

He walked all the way to the entrance of the Engineering school and stood there, waiting for Steve. He prayed he wouldn’t have to run into Tiberius or Whitney today. He was in a good mood and didn’t want it to be ruined.

“Tony!” Steve’s enthusiastic voice called him. “Let’s go.”

“You’re gonna walk us to the cafe?” Tony grinned.

“Yes,” Steve blushed a little. “A little old-fashioned but… let’s go come on!!”

Tony held Steve’s hand as he pulled him closer. “Let’s go because you, can’t be patient.”

Both of them turned right and started to walk to the Humanities school, while sharing about how their day had gone.

 

...

  
Within ten minutes, Steve and Tony had found themselves in the new cafe. The usual cafe jazz music was playing, and Tony felt like he was in New York City. There was a calm atmosphere in there, with the walls colored brown and cream color. There were potted plants perched on stands on the walls, and a few aesthetically pleasing photos of coffee and cakes were in between the perched plants. They had their daily specials written on a blackboard with chalks of different colors, showing the products and prices. There were tables and couches in the cafe, and the staff dressed in jeans and black shirt looked friendly.

“Nice right,” Steve smiled. “This area is bound to get crowded, I mean, it was during lunch.”

Tony looked at the wall clock in the cafe; the time was 4pm. He and Steve sat at one of the tables near the cashier, which had two menus for each patron, a small basket full of cutlery and napkins, and two glasses, ready to be filled up with water.

“I already love this place,” Tony smiled, looking up at the dangling lights. “Nice vibe.”

Tony could see how proud Steve was of bringing him here. Being the dork Steve was, he was trying to hide his pride.

After a few minutes of looking through the menus, Steve went to order and was coming back with Tony’s and his food. Tony decided to order a cup of latte and a slice of rainbow cake, and Steve decided to order apple pie and a cup of orange juice. Really Steve? Orange juice?

“Don’t say a word,” Steve looked at Tony with a 'don't you dare laugh' warning look when he brought his order to the table.

Tony gave Steve a shit-eating grin, and started to eat his rainbow cake.

“Jesus fuck!” Tony exclaimed, a little too loudly. Steve raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend’s behavior.

“Is there a problem?” the cashier asked from his post, as their table was fairly near the cashier counter.

“I love my cake, yo!” Tony grinned. “Please kiss the cook for me?”

Steve snorted and spat out some of his orange juice into the cup. The cashier smiled.

“I will kiss my fiance once we’re out of here,” the cashier gave Tony a thumbs-up sign.

Steve dropped his apple pie onto his plate and ran out of the cafe, laughing hard. Tony grinned at the cashier, before turning behind to look at Steve, who was doubled over with laughter. Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head. He was picking on his rainbow cake while giving Steve the time to recover from that laugh attack he just had.

“Abandoning your date, Rogers?” Tony asked, eating another piece of cake, as Steve settled back down.

“You knew?!” Steve looked and sounded scandalized. Tony felt sorry for him for a second, but it changed to love because he loved Steve so much. Steve, someone who couldn’t hide his emotions around Tony, and when he tried, it was always hilarious.

Steve looked more at ease now. He continued eating his pie. “So, you made a friend?” he nodded at the cashier, who was attending to another customer.

“Yeah, Nick’s a nice guy and his fiance cooks so good! Damn, he’s gifted,” Tony said.

Tony saw Steve’s little look of  jealousy wash over him. “I can cook too, you know.”

“Yeah I know,” Tony said, smirking because his tactics were obviously working. “But this rainbow cake is good. I bet your pie and the other stuff here are excellent. Plus, the price is so reasonable!”

Steve looked at his boyfriend, wondering what Tony was trying to do. If he was trying to rile Steve up, then it was slightly working.

“Are you starting your acting coaching with Thor soon?” Steve asked, deciding to change topic.

“Yeah, like right after your professor meeting,” Tony replied. “And you get to watch us perform.”

“I have work to do too, Tony,” Steve deadpanned.

“Steve, learn how to multitask! It’s bad but it’s good!!” Tony threw his hands in the air and said.

Steve chuckled. “Fine. I’ll watch my boyfriend act, or try to act.”

Tony pursed his lips at Steve’s joke. He stabbed at his rainbow cake mercilessly and ate a piece, not breaking eye contact from Steve.

“I’ll show you acting,” Tony said firmly after swallowing. Steve raised his eyebrows, and then nodded his head with a smirk.

 

...

 

Tony jogged back to 6-39 after his special date with Steve. The entire time up the elevator, Tony was smiling like a fool while remembering Steve being a cute idiot during the date. Gosh, Tony loved Steve so much it hurt. He’s muscular and wants to look tough but God help him, he’s just a softie inside. 

Tony exited the elevator, already mentally preparing himself to do some engineering math when he heard a sob come from the open area. Jane Foster was sitting there, alone, with a scraped knee and a couple of torn pieces of paper. Tony wasn’t close to Jane and didn’t know her well. But he wasn’t heartless to leave her crying alone. Plus, he felt this sense of protectiveness for anyone from level 6.

He walked to the bench and sat beside her, almost silent but with a bit of noise to show he was there.

“Hey Jane, what happened?” Tony asked softly.

“Hey Tony,” Jane said, her voice sounding coarse. She forced out a smile while wiping her tears away. “What brings you here?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Tony straightened up. “No, tell me you’re kidding. Jane… I came here to check on you because I heard you crying!!”

Jane’s face flushed. She looked away, at the light grey sky. “I’m okay.”

Tony sighed. He looked out at the sky too, while saying, “Your knee bleeding slightly, mud all over your legs and skirt, the torn papers in your hand and red eyes say otherwise.”

Jane instinctively clutched onto the papers, squeezing them. As a result, water oozed out of them, dropping onto the wooden floor.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable, I mean, I understand,” Tony assured her. “But if you do need help then… I’ll see what I can do.”

Jane faked another smile, nodding her head. Tony stood up to go back to his apartment.

“Hey, Tony!” Jane called him, with so much of hope. “I may need your help.”

“Oh?” Tony said and turned back, not expecting a reply from her this fast.

“This…,” she showed him the torn papers. “They uh… they are from my professors. For my internship, to join the Donald Blake Medical Group. Actually… DB is having a little course during the next break, and I want to show them the letters and tell them I’m interested… So… Anyway, someone bumped into me and I fell down and they fell into a puddle and someone stepped on them…”

“Someone bumped into you?” Tony asked, frowning. He went back to her and sat back. He threw an arm around her shoulder to calm her down.  She rested her head on his shoulder, letting her tears rise back up to the surface again.

Jane nodded her head, allowing tears to fall from her eyes. “The help… Can you… try to get the words back together? It’s gone, but… but you can… right? Plus, this is a special paper only the professors have and use for testimonials… you think you can… get it back?”

Tony raised an eyebrow. This was potentially a disciplinary issue work, that was if he chose to do it the other way. “Uh… I’ll see what I can do. Why don’t you ask your professors to redo this for you? I mean, it seems a valid reason.”

“They… they usually won’t do it a second time,” Jane’s cheeks turned red in embarrassment. “They… they’ll see me as someone who isn’t responsible enough for her own stuff.”

Tony looked at her for some time. He knew he had to help a friend out. But if any higher level people found out about this, he might not continue to be the top in his cohort. Argh, screw being the top in his course. When his friends needed help, he was damn well there for them. “Fine, give them to me.”

Jane handed the soggy papers over. “If you can pull this off… I… I’ll not know what to say or how to thank you.”

“How about a cup of coffee from the Science café?” Tony asked her with a cheeky smile.

Jane laughed. She forgot all about her worries and sorrows and laughed out loud, much to the glee of Tony. “Are you gonna cheat on Steve with me?” she asked him sarcastically.

Tony smirked at her and went closer. Jane, for a moment, thought Tony was being serious.

“I would cheat on Steve for you,” he winked at her. “Don’t tell him that.”

“Oh Tony,” Jane blushed. “You know how to get the girls.”

Tony swung an arm around her, guiding her back to 6-40. He joked a few times, and led her in safely.

“Need help? I’ll get the first aid kit from Phil.” Tony offered.

“No, I can wash this up myself and I’ll call Phil up in a while,” Jane shrugged him off. “You have your work. Please go.”

“Damn Jane,” Tony held his heart, acting as if he was hurt. “Is that rejection I hear?”

“Thor needs to start to coach you,” Jane let out a chuckle. “No, in all seriousness, I’m a medical student and I know exactly what to do.”

“Alright doc,” Tony grinned. “I’ll leave this in your capable hands.”

Just then, Janet and Carol entered the apartment.

“And then I was telling Hank, hey why don’t we eat at the café for lunch?” Jan was saying, angrily.

“What did he say?” Carol asked her dryly, sounding as if she knew what her reply was going to be.

“He said NO!!” Jan screamed, startling the others. She straightened up once she saw her old friend standing in her apartment. “Oh, hey Tony.”

“Hey Jan,” Tony smiled. “Hank problems again huh.”

“Yeah, that jerk is so into science, it’s almost as if he’s cheating on me with science!” Jan declared, much to the amusement of Tony.

“And science is winning,” Carol quipped as she placed her bag on the dining table. Jan huffed at that and went to the kitchen to get a drink.

“Hey, how’s Rhodey?” Tony asked Carol.

“He’s fine,” she replied, blushing a little. “Plus he’s your best friend so you can ask him that yourself.”

Tony laughed at that.

“Anyway, please check on Doctor Jane Foster here, she fell down today and scraped her knee!” Tony shrugged as he backed out of 6-40.

“What?!” Jan panicked.

Tony laughed to himself as he heard the commotion he had just created. He went back to 6-39, and to his room. He switched on the ceiling fan and air conditioner and placed all the pieces of paper on the ground, so that they would dry soon.

He smiled to himself, already thinking of ways to save Jane Foster’s dream.

 

...

 

Later at night, Tony found himself practicing his module with Thor, with the rest of his housemates and Steve as an audience.

“And now slowly, you slowly rise up,” Thor instructed Tony. They were doing warm ups before they started on pronunciation and presentation.

Clint and Natasha were doing their own work while looking up at the session at random times. Bruce and Steve were the only ones watching the session without any distraction.

Tony relaxed his body, and his hands ran up his thighs as he slowly rose up to a full standing position.

“Alright friend Tony, now we are ready,” Thor smiled. “Let's start off with the vowels.”

Steve decided to take a sip of water from the glass he was holding.

“Friend Tony, say aaaaaa,” Thor said.

And Tony went ‘aaaaa’.

“Now, go eeee, and smile and exaggerate it,” Thor instructed.

And Tony went ‘eeee’.

This made Steve choke on his water and he spat some out onto his shirt.

“Steve!!!” Tony shouted, sounding incredulous. “This is only a warm up!”

“You sent some onto my hand,” Clint huffed. He wiped the moisture away and gave Steve a light-hearted glare.

“I'm sorry I just..” Steve tried to apologise but he ended up coughing badly.

“Friend Steve, you are supposed to be encouraging,” Thor pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

“I agree with Thor,” Natasha said while rubbing Steve’s back.

“Tony, you continue,” Bruce encouraged him. “If Steve laughs, we’ll tickle him together.”

Tony smiled at that. “Now I’d rather he laugh.”

“Okay, you do this babe. And I'll watch,” Steve assured Tony once he regained his damn composure.

So, Thor and Tony decided to start with the warm up again. Steve was just sitting there looking rigid, and was holding back his laughter. Clint was also doing the same because of how constipated Steve’s face looked.

After the warm up, Tony turned to Steve.

“You have a horrible poker face,” he deadpanned.

“What can I say? I support my boyfriend in all his endeavours,” Steve shrugged.

After a little water break, Thor asked Tony to present something for the little audience gathered in front of him. A small presentation on anything that interested Tony a lot.

Tony took in a deep breath before starting.

“I… I love my course. I know I know, I love my boyfriend too. But my course… it's like an extension of my passion, if that makes sense. Oh wow, does it make sense? Anyway, I love to throw myself into projects after projects because that's my passion! I'll never trade this course for another. My friend Happy, he's in mass comm and he ends school early at times, but what he does might interest him but never me. So yeah, that's something about me..” Tony ended and was clasping his hands.

“Friend Tony, that was good!” Thor grinned. “I can see that you're nervous but… don't be! The world is your stage, and you are a confident performer. Believe in yourself and you're already halfway there.”

“Good job,” Natasha smiled at him.

“Hey, one day I might find Tony and Thor in Hollywood!” Clint grinned. He shut his laptop and went to his room to put it back.

“I agree. You’re getting somewhere, Tony.” Bruce gave Tony’s back a pat before he went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

“Thanks Thor, and guys,” Tony smiled sincerely. “But yeah, this is what we've done so far. Introducing ourselves to one another. And sounding genuine..”

“You did sound genuine,” Steve commented. “I felt your passion.”

“Merci beaucoup,” Tony bowed down.

“We will practice together once you keep learning the other basics,” Thor assured him. “Now, let us relax.”

Tony sighed dramatically and plopped down onto the couch, in between Steve and Thor. They switched on the television, and The Price is Right was on air.

“Jeez, you both are warm,” Tony snuggled comfortably between them.

Natasha was seated on the floor with Bruce, while Clint braided her hair in the name of taking a break. Natasha looked up at Clint and sent him a flying kiss as a thank you. He pretended to have caught it and placed it at his heart. Both Clint and Natasha burst out laughing at their actions, and Clint joined Natasha on the floor, pulling her closer to him. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, feeling a calm settle within her.

They all fell asleep there, and Bruce was the last one to. He switched off the television, lights and pulled the curtains shut. He placed a blanket over all of them and joined his friends and fell asleep, feeling at home with them by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Home indeed, Bruce.  
> Please leave a feedback and I'll be happy to read it! :)


	4. Flip That Omelette!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint flips (or more of like attempts to) flip an omelette. Tony gets a bad news, which causes him to talk it out with Happy and Pepper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for my absence. I've been really busy with internship and school stuff and had no time to upload the chapters. But thank you for sticking with me and here's a new chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support so far, guys! I really appreciate it. :) 
> 
> Chapter 5 will drop by tomorrow. The rest of them will be a weekly basis (unless I get really busy)!!
> 
> Happy reading, guys! :D
> 
> *Tony experiences a very minor breakdown and anxiety*

Natasha was good at many things. She could do well for her modules, help her friends out when needed, stare daggers into the eyes of whoever who had the balls to hurt any of her friends and more. But flipping an omelette to the other side was something she couldn’t master. If she chose to, she would do it easily. But she just didn’t get why people made such a big deal out of it; for god’s sake, it’s just cooking an omelette!

But here she was in the kitchen, after another day at school, standing near the stove with Thor, who was utterly excited at the prospect of flipping the omelette they were cooking for dinner.  

“There’s a technique to this,” Thor said. “Tilt the pan slightly, move it until the omelette is at the side, but not too much or too little, and then you flip it.”

Natasha fought off the urge to roll her eyes. “Sure, but I don’t see the point of this. Just use a spatula.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” a tired voice came from the couch, where Clint was lying down. He was studying fine in the afternoon, but just 5 minutes ago he had lost his motivation. So he was just lying down, staring at the ceiling, waiting to eat.

“Ugh, you too, Clint?” Natasha grimaced. 

“A little competition hurt no one, Tasha,” Clint laughed. 

Natasha was about to counter that when the doorbell rang. 

“I’ll get it!” Clint declared and rolled off the couch. But he fell onto the coffee table instead, and his weight caused the coffee table to veer to the left side, dropping Clint and his stuff down. The table landed on its side with a loud ‘bam’. It was Clint’s luck that the glass top didn’t shatter to pieces. 

Natasha calmly walked to the door and opened it, sighing at Clint’s state.

“What the fuck was that?” Tony ran out of his room, with his hair sticking all over the place. This meant he was either sleeping or sleeping with Steve, who was also in the room. Tony took one look at Clint’s figure sprawled across the floor. “Oh, it’s you.”

“I think I came in at the wrong time,” Bucky smiled. He walked in with his laptop and Natasha shut the door.

“You okay?” Tony asked Clint as he placed the table back properly. 

“I want to sleep,” Clint pouted. Tony wanted to say something snarky, but he decided to tone it down because of how tired Clint looked. 

“No one’s stopping you,” Tony smiled. He helped put all the stuff back on the coffee table and helped Clint up. “Just go rest. Or, wait until you have something for dinner and then you rest.”

“Thanks Tones,” Clint said softly.

“Hey Tony,” Bucky smiled. “How’re you?”

Tony smirked at Bucky. “I’m apparently pretty tight today.”

Everyone gathered there let out a groan at Tony’s answer. Tony snickered and went back to his room, where Steve was half-asleep on his bed. 

Bucky sat down on the couch beside Clint and sighed. “I need your help for the business part.” 

“Isn’t Pepper there?” 

“No, she is still in school. Apparently you skipped the last class,” Bucky narrowed his eyes at Clint.

Clint smiled sheepishly, hoping Natasha hadn’t heard it. He took Bucky’s laptop and looked at the proposal, which was about a small business set up for a veterinary center. 

“Alright, who wants to flip the omelette?” Thor asked from the kitchen. 

“Your proposal can wait five minutes,” Clint thrust the laptop back to Bucky and scurried to the kitchen. Whatever motivation he had lost to study had now come back.

He took the pan from the stove, while Natasha and Thor stood back. 

Clint tilted the pan till the omelette went to the side. He then flipped it excitedly, with a little too much of energy. The omelette flew up and hit the ceiling. And it just stayed there, as if the ceiling was the best thing it had found in the world. 

“Oh boy,” Clint muttered to himself. He kept looking up, hoping the omelette would drop down on its own, like come on, gravity. 

But nope. Not today.

Today, Clint was destined to face Natasha’s death glare. He didn’t even dare to look at her. He gave the pan back to Thor and slunk out of the kitchen. He sat back beside Bucky and took his laptop.

“This is such a nice plan,” Clint said in a high-pitched and squeaky voice. 

Bucky gave Clint’s back a pat and sighed. “Yeah… just help me make the business part look nicer.”

“Not a problem,” Clint said quietly. 

Clint had completely missed Natasha’s steely gaze. She and Thor immediately got to work to make another omelette. And there was no flipping this time round.

 

…

 

At night, Natasha was studying in her room. She wanted her own privacy this time, plus, she had to make a call to her professor regarding a project. She was halfway typing a report when her room door opened. Clint was standing there, wearing a white shirt and light purple pants. He just hung out at the entrance.

“Hey Nat,” Clint gulped. 

“Hi,” Nat said without looking up.

“Okay, are you like… mad at me? Clint asked. 

“What if I am?” Natasha raised an eyebrow, turning to look at him this time.

Clint sighed. He closed the door and sat down on Natasha’s bed. He took in a good view of her room. Her red curtains were still drawn open, and the night sky could be seen from her window. Her pillow and blankets were neatly arranged on the bed. There were many papers, photos and post-it notes stuck on her cupboard, which was opposite her bed. On the wall right in front of Natasha’s study table, the photos the 6 of them had taken in Malibu were pasted neatly. There was even one where Natasha had taken with Ana.

Overall, Natasha’s room was neat, with a red aesthetic. 

“I’m sorry, Nat, okay, it was our dinner and we’re trying to save up despite having a rich dude with us,” Clint sighed. “And… you’re seriously not thinking of giving me a hard time over an omelette, are you?”

Natasha smiled at him. She stood up, and quickly tied her red hair up into a bun. She then sat beside Clint.

“I’m not angry just… nah,” Natasha shook her head.

“Come on, you know I can take criticisms, right?”

Natasha looked into Clint’s eyes earnestly. “Clint, you’re an amazing guy. And like… every day I thank god for your presence. And I also worry about you… I mean, I know you get tired and all but you’re starting to skip school?”

Clint sighed, wishing Bucky hadn’t said that piece of information out loud just now. “It’s only this once. Okay? I promise, Natasha. I’ll be okay. I’ll go for all my classes and attend the lectures too, even though some are useless.”

Natasha smiled at Clint. “I don’t have a lot of people in my life to worry about. But you make up for it because you’re just so damn important to me, Clint.”

Clint’s eyes watered slightly. He cupped Natasha’s soft cheeks with his palms and pulled her in for a kiss. Natasha kissed back. Her hands went up to Clint’s hair, and she tugged on them. Clint moaned a little in the kiss, but he never broke it. Both of them kept kissing, forgetting where there were for a second. The background faded away, as both of them melted into the deep passionate kiss. 

Clint slowly pulled away, to catch his breath. 

Natasha opened her eyes, and looked into Clint’s sparkling blue eyes. She rested her cheek on Clint’s palm, and smiled at him sweetly. She just couldn’t look away. She loved Clint so much, and she just wanted this moment to last forever. 

“I should sleep here tonight,” Clint said. “Thor and Bruce wouldn’t mind having an empty bed in between them.”

“They shouldn’t.”

“Come on, let’s sleep now.”

Natasha locked her room door and switched off the lights. She took out her sweatshirt and tights, and only had a tank top on her. She quickly slipped into a pair of shorts. 

Clint sat back on the bed and watched Natasha move. The light from the window was shining on Natasha, making her look like a perfectly sculpted statue moving around with life in the dark. 

Natasha took out her bun and let her wavy red hair flow down. She did a stretch before joining Clint on bed. 

“We’re getting our pairing results tomorrow, right?” Natasha asked. She pulled the cover over herself and Clint, who was spooning her.

“Yeah… Can’t wait.”

“You think we’ll be paired up together?” 

“I can answer that with a big obvious duh!!” Clint laughed. “Of course, we are going to. And we’ll take down Fisk together! You promised me this, you know.”

“I know how important promises are to you,” Natasha smiled. She turned to face her boyfriend. “I love you, Clint.”

Clint brushed back Natasha’s hair and gave her forehead a soft and sweet kiss. “I love you too, Tasha.”

The both of them cuddled each other and fell asleep, despite having a great deal of school work to do. But they couldn’t be bothered with that anyway. They had each other now, and their presence was enough for each of them. Natasha smiled, as she felt Clint’s warmth embracing her. This was going to be a peaceful night for her.

 

…

 

Just outside the apartment at the open area, the rest of the students from 6-39, Bucky, Wanda and Pietro were studying. They have been for the past two hours. Just 5 minutes ago, they had sent Thor and Bruce downstairs to get packets of sandwiches for all of them. It started with Pietro’s hunger pang, which had somehow spread to the rest of them. Tony had called that Pietro’s secret super power. 

The elevator doors opened, with Thor and Bruce walking out, holding packets of sandwiches from the vending machine below. 

“Our study food is here!” Thor grinned. He placed the sandwiches on the table they were all sitting at. Everyone were seated on a single cafeteria table, the one nearest to the open area’s railing. They started to take the packets and pass them around to one another.

“Thanks man!” Bucky smiled. “Gosh this is like my dinner…”

Tony opened his ham and cheese sandwich. He was sitting right beside Steve, who was busy doing his work. Tony’s phone screen lit up as a notification popped up. He read it. 

“Hey Bucky, if you need any help for the legal part of your vet clinic plan, I’m right here,” Pietro smiled.

“What is it exactly that you’re required to do? Because it seems like they’re over-asking,” Bruce pointed out as he sat down beside Thor, who was beside Bucky. 

Bucky chuckled. “They actually are over-asking. Basically, this is like a business mix module, where we’re supposed to come up with a plan to set up a vet clinic. Business and legal aspects all included.” Bruce cringed when he heard that. “I know Bruce, I feel that way every time I walk into that module’s class and look at the lesson plan for the day.”

“Well, I’m right here for legal, so is Pepper for business,” Pietro shrugged. 

“And Clint,” Bucky added. 

“Speaking of which, where is he and Natasha?” Wanda asked. 

“I don’t think we wanna know,” Steve suddenly said. “They’re in 6-39, but we don’t know what they’re up to.”

“But we all know what friend Steve and friend Tony are up to whenever they are the only ones in the apartment,” Thor said while taking a bite off his egg sandwich. 

“Damn straight,” Steve let out a laugh, prompting the others to laugh too. 

At this moment, Tony slammed his phone on the table, startling everyone seated there. He aggressively took a bite off his sandwich and roughly flipped the pages on his book. 

Bucky looked at Steve, nodding at Tony, silently asking if he was okay. Steve shrugged. 

“Are you angry at us for discussing about your sex life?” Pietro piped up bravely. Of course he did, he’s a law student. 

“No,” Tony replied curtly. 

The atmosphere got uncomfortable within a matter of seconds. Wanda kept looking at Tony as she was seated beside him. Tony fiercely flipped a page and tore it by accident. But because he flipped it fast, and because the area was quiet, the sound of the tear was deafening. Wanda’s eyes widened.

“There seems to be a problem,” Thor spoke up. 

“No shit, Sherlock,” Pietro said. 

“Tony, what is the problem?” Bucky leaned forward and asked. “If it’s us discussing about your sex life then just tell us. We’ll stop.”

Tony slammed shut his book. “I gotta go.”

He took his phone and just walked away, leaving everyone to stare at him brisk walk to 6-40. Steve sighed and focused back on his work. His boyfriend’s behavior was getting too unpredictable, and he wanted to talk to him about it, but just not now. He had a last-minute quiz to study for.

At 6-40, Hank Pym welcomed Tony inside. 

6-40 looked as neat as ever. Janet and Scott were seated at the couch, with their books wide open and stationary littered all over the coffee table. There were two cups of coffee on the floor. 

“Tony Stark!” Scott grinned. “Okay, come here buddy.”

Tony walked to Scott, looking flustered. “Where’s Rhodey?” 

“He’s asleep,” Jan replied with a bright smile. “We’ll tell him you were here tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Tony brushed it off. He swallowed his disappointment away. “I’ll go see Pepper and Hap.”

“Tony wait!” Scott waved at him frantically. “Answer this okay. Why, when the car turns right, the passenger turns left?”

Tony almost laughed at the way the question was phrased. Almost. 

“I can answer that,” Hank shrugged. 

“Because of ‘centripetal’ forces, also known as inward forces,” Tony blurted out the answer. “I’m sorry, can I go first because I need to talk to someone?”

“Sure,” Jan said. “Hank, you do the explaining for the centipede force.”

Hank sighed a long and heavy sigh while Tony walked out of 6-40. He went straight to 6-38, ignoring the others seated at the open area. 

Happy welcomed Tony inside. He was studying with Pepper at the dining table. Sam Wilson wasn’t home. 

“Hey, you look like life took a shit on you,” Pepper raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?”

Tony went to the couch. He fell on it and squashed a brown pillow in the name of a hug. He let out a shaky sigh and rocked himself forward and backward.

“Tony?” Happy looked at his good friend worriedly. 

“Whitney Frost is in my drama class,” Tony looked up, with tears forming in his eyes. “She just joined us… and oh God, I didn’t want to see her… oh god…”

“Tony,” Pepper got up from the chair. She joined Tony on the couch and sat on his right. Happy sat on his left. “Hey, look don’t worry too much.”

Tony was breathing heavily. He tossed the brown pillow to the floor and wiped his tears away, hands shaking. He then cupped his face with his hands. Pepper and Happy gave Tony’s back a few firm and slow pats. They just sat with him in silence, knowing words wouldn’t provide him with as much comfort as their presence would. 

“I just want my past to stay in the past,” Tony let out a muffled sob. “But it keeps coming back to the present to haunt me.”

Pepper hugged Tony and rested her chin on his shoulder. “Tony.”

“I just… I just feel like quitting the module and doing something else,” Tony shuddered. 

“Pulling out date was the first day of school,” Happy looked at Tony sadly. 

“Maybe it’s not about pulling out,” Pepper said. “Hey, look at it this way. She’s just another student. And you’re in that module to prove to yourself that you can act. Don’t let her presence bother you.”

“Maybe her presence is there for you to prove to yourself that you can deal with the ghosts from your past,” Happy suggested. 

Both Pepper and Tony looked at Happy in surprise. This was the wisest he’s ever sounded, and it was only 11pm. 

Tony took in a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. He wiped away his tears again and sat back up. He looked around at 6-38 to distract himself. Another neat apartment, with several photographs of everyone’s funny faces placed in cute frames and neatly placed on the coffee table. Now that was something new. Tony saw Happy’s photo and laughed. Someone had drawn a fake mustache on his face and there was rainbow colored face paint neatly smeared on his cheeks. Happy looked so done in the photo. 

“Why do you guys keep the photos here?” Tony asked, taking Pietro’s frame. Pietro had his tongue stuck out, was wearing a wig made out of colored papers and looked real wild. 

“Whenever we have fights, like Sam and Bucky do, we make them or the parties sit here,” Pepper said with a smile, while patting Tony's back slowly.

“They look at the photos, laugh, and remember that at the end of the day, we’re all friends,” Happy added. 

Tony’s heart just softened at the method they went to, to bring them all together. He placed the frame down and smiled. 

“You guys are amazing.”

“So are you, pal.” Happy smiled softly. 

Both Happy and Pepper simply hugged Tony, and the three of them remained in that position for a long time, just like how their friendship had stood the test of time. Sam, Wanda and Pietro walked in a few minutes later and didn’t say anything when they saw the hug. They simply smiled and acknowledged the trio’s deep friendship. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Clint and Natasha be paired up together? And how is Tony going to go forward with his theater module? Please drop a comment if you have any feedback! :)


	5. Couple's Tiff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steve talk it out. Plus, Clint's and Natasha's pairing results are out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! The weekend is here and I hope you all are having a good one so far!   
> As promised, here's the next chapter. This chapter is like where the conflict starts, so I hope you guys enjoy it!   
> I will try my best to update this story and my other stories as best as I can! Thank you for your patience, guys!! I love you all! <3
> 
> Happy reading!

The next morning, Tony was up and about early. In fact, he had left the apartment at 7am. His plan for today was real simple: work on Jane Foster’s stuff whenever he had the time. 

The papers were pretty dry, and all he had to do was make out the words, especially those smudged ones, and retype it into his laptop. Pretty doable.

He was already walking past the school garden, which no one really frequented. It’s weird how there was something beautiful situated at the smack dead center of the school campus, but people always walked past it, as if not even aware of its presence. 

Tony looked into the garden, and spotted a few empty benches there. He was about to enter his Engineering School when a voice called his name.

“Tony!!”

It was Steve, with his school bag. What the fuck was he doing here this early?

“Steve?”

“Oh god, Tony you walk real fast,” Steve jogged to him and tried to catch his breath. 

“You have an early class? It didn’t say so on your timetable,” Tony stopped walking. 

“No, I just wanted to talk to you,” Steve said. “Let’s go here.”

“I have um, work to do-”

“You and I both know your lecture starts at 10 today,” Steve said firmly. 

Both of them walked into the garden and sat on an empty bench, at either ends. The early morning sunlight was shining on them and on the plants, which looked really fresh. Tony was focusing on a bluebell flower, at its pretty blue tinged with light purple petals. 

Steve clearly didn’t know how to start or what to say. If not, he would have said something by now. The silence between them kept stretching, like a rubber band about to snap. 

“Is this about last night?” Tony couldn’t help it.

“Was it about what Thor said?” Steve asked softly. 

“What did Thor say?” 

“You weren’t… listening?”

“No… I was focused on something else.”

Steve sighed. “I thought… I thought you left halfway because you were pissed with all of us. Bruce felt very bad.”

It took Tony some time to recall the events of last night. He had totally forgotten about his books and about the people who were seated at the open area with him. Well fuck.

“It wasn’t you guys!” Tony assured his boyfriend. “It was… well a class work.. class shit.”

Steve was just looking at Tony, as if he could do better. 

“It…” Tony sighed, before fully confessing to Steve about Whitney Frost being in his drama module. 

“What?” Steve asked, sitting upright. 

“That's why, I went to Hap and Pepper to talk… yeah and thanks for placing my books back on my table,” Tony sunk further into his seat. 

“Babe…” Steve closed the big gap between himself and his boyfriend. “I’m sorry I wasn’t available to talk yesterday… my professor just… it was a last minute test arrangement and I just…”

“Hey, I’m not blaming you,” Tony frowned. “I was just saying…”

“I’m sorry,” Steve hugged Tony and rested his head on Tony’s shoulder. “Anyway, just… ignore her and pretend she’s a nobody in your life.”

“On the contrary, I’ve decided to treat her like how I treat my other classmates so,” Tony shrugged, looking away. He was looking at the student population starting to walk in to the campus, to their faculties. 

“And that’s why you’re the best,” Steve said softly. 

Tony leaned into Steve’s hug, feeling a bit more relaxed now. Pepper and Happy had him over until 2am, talking to him about their studies and modules. They were keeping him company. But there was something Happy had said that made Tony spit his hot chocolate, which was made by Sam Wilson, out. 

Apparently Happy was part of the campus newspaper publishing team. For the edition that was to be published next semester, his friends and himself had to go around looking for anyone to write about, to choose a person and write a nice short feature article about them. Happy wanted to write about Tony. But apparently, his fellow journalist student named Christine Everhart had already submitted her name; she was set to write about Tony and would be approaching him to ask about it later on today. 

Tony had spat out his drink and laughed at that. Everyone knew about Christine; she was a passionate media student, but too passionate that it crossed the fine line between excitement and arrogance at times. 

Tony let out a chuckle, now, and just closed his eyes, feeling Steve’s warmth. He hugged back Steve, feeling better after a shitty night of sleep. He felt bad as it hadn’t occurred to him that his odd behavior last night could have affected his friends. He owed Bruce an apology for making him feel guilty for something he hadn’t done. Hmm, perhaps a cup of coffee from the Science school cafe should set things right. 

“I’m right here, Tony,” Steve said. Tony felt so loved, that he just couldn’t move away from Steve. 

Both of them were sitting at the bench area for a long time, till the sun started to shine more intensely on them.

 

…

 

_ Thwack _

Another arrow landed at the triple line on the archery target board. Clint groaned in frustration and went back to the benches, where his bag and sports bag were. 

Clint and his best friend Kate Bishop were at the archery range in the Grand Sports Center. They have been there for at least three hours, practicing their target. Clint was the one that had suggested they both hit the archery range after school. It also meant that he was stressed and needed an outlet to vent it all out. Archery was the perfect choice. 

“Still missing, Barton,” Kate pursed her lips. “Your target should at least be the single line, or if you’re lucky enough, single bull.”   

“It’s not only luck,” Clint huffed. He placed his bow on the bench and started to stretch his arms. “It’s about focus, concentrating, and hitting it right.”

“They're all not possible with distractions,” Kate pointed out.

She was standing in front of the target board. She loaded and nocked the arrow on the bow and raised it. She drew her string hand to her face, and just relaxed. She released the arrow, and it flew across the range.

It landed on the single bull.

“Nice,” Clint complimented her from the bench. “Practice makes ya better!”

“Thanks Barton,” Kate smiled. She walked back to the bench and sat down beside Clint. “What the hell is bothering you, man?” 

Clint sighed. “Nah, it’s just the pairing results are coming out. I’m just… I just want to win Fisk.”

“You will,” Kate said reassuringly. “Hey, I selected random pairing and I just might end up with Fisk. Do I look like I’m worrying?”

Clint started laughing at that. He turned to face her. “Tell me Kate, what the hell are you not worried about?” 

Kate tilted her head to the side and fixed her gaze at Barton. Her face had a smile pinned on it but her eyes told a completely different story. She toughened up, letting her smile widen into a grin. “I’m not worried about anything. Why should I be? Things should be worried of Kate Bishop when she walks past them! That doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean.”

Clint raised his eyebrows. “Fisk sure is gonna have a nice time dancing with you.”

Kate stuck her tongue out at Clint. “You got that part right.” She then started to retie her shoe laces. “So that’s what’s been bothering you. It made you miss pretty bad.”

“Hey, I didn’t miss that bad,” Clint quipped. “Remember the time you released an arrow and it didn’t even land on the target board? It hit the wall instead!!”

“I was just getting started, Clinty Minty,” Kate rolled her eyes. “Hey, remember when you released an arrow and let the bow string slap your face? And the arrow fell onto the floor!”

Clint snorted. Both of them got up and walked to the target board, to collect their last arrows, that were still stuck on the board. 

“Hard to forget, especially after the coach had seen it,” Clint recalled. 

“Aha!!! That too!!” Kate squealed in a high-pitched voice. “The coach never let you live that one down.”

Clint took out his arrow and Kate’s. They placed it back inside the ‘used arrows’ quiver, that was placed behind the range. 

“Anyway, I think we should hit the Arts Center,” Kate said. “Can’t wait to see who my partner is.”

“All the best to you, Kate,” Clint grinned. He swung an arm around her and they walked back to take their bags.

“Thanks, Barton,” Kate smiled a soft smile. 

They left the archery range and were at the Arts Center foyer within a few minutes. Natasha was standing beside a pillar, alone. She was texting someone, and rolled her eyes at the text message she had received. 

“There’s your girl,” Kate smiled. Upon hearing Kate’s voice, Natasha looked up and switched her phone off. 

“Hey!” she smiled at them. “Jeez, you both need a shower.”

“I know right,” Kate threw her arms up into the air. 

Clint gave Natasha’s cheek a kiss and went to stand beside her. “The turnout is pretty bad.”

“Didn’t you see the list?” Natasha nudged him in his ribs. 

Just then, the teacher in-charge, a bald and round man wearing black rectangular shaped glasses, walked towards the small crowd gathered, with a clipboard and several papers attached to it. He sighed and looked like he didn’t want to be there. 

Also at that moment, Wilson Fisk emerged, from behind the pillar where Natasha was standing. Clint, Kate and Natasha turned to look at him. Fisk was bald too, and he was wearing a purple polo shirt and a pair of black jeans. He was also wearing an expensive looking gold watch. 

The entire atmosphere just changed, and all the students gathered turned back to look at the teacher in-charge instead. Fisk was just standing there, looking at the teacher in-charge expectantly. 

Clint was already getting fidgety. 

“Can I like, go back to the apartment?” Clint asked. “I want to put my stuff there and just rest and you tell me what’s going on?”

“Be patient…” Natasha chuckled.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Minty, just wait for a while and follow your girl’s advice,” Kate shrugged.

“She has a point,” Natasha laughed softly. 

“Let’s get this done with,” the teacher said, avoiding eye contact from Fisk or from any other students. “All individual dancers who chose to dance solo, will remain solo. Here’s the pairings, and for all those who didn’t tick the selected pair column, here are the results.”

Natasha turned to look at Clint and smirked. She was so curious to know if the random pair luck was going to work or not. Clint turned to her and shrugged, still believing he and Natasha would be a pair. He held his girlfriend close to him, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. 

The teacher called out the first pair, and then the second pair. After a few seconds, Clint finally heard Natasha’s name. And boy was he relieved.

“Natasha Romanoff,” the teacher called out. He cleared his throat before continuing. “And Wilson Fisk.”

Clint’s eyes widened while Kate stiffened, knowing who her partner was. Natasha’s arms slid off Clint’s waist, and she just sighed. Both Fisk and her started to walk to the front, where the other pairs were gathered. 

His girlfriend was being partnered up with that idiot? And worse, Natasha was  _ simply _ walking away, to stand beside Fisk! She gave Clint an apologetic look before standing beside Fisk, who proceeded to hold her hand. Natasha looked really uncomfortable, but she managed to keep a professional front.

“And the final pair,” the teacher called out, sounding slightly enthusiastic because he was nearly done here. “Clint Barton and Kate Bishop!”

Clint walked to the front, still reeling from the fact that Natasha hadn’t argued about the pairing. He stood beside Kate, who looked as surprised as he was. 

“All the best for the competition. And no change in pairings!” the teacher declared. “More information and meetings will be alerted via your school emails. All the best.” He then walked off with the list, leaving the pairs and solo dancers to mingle around with each other.

“Tasha!” Clint called her. She was busy talking to Fisk, laughing with him. Clint roughly pulled her to the side, asking Fisk to excuse her. “You’re okay with this?”

“Yeah, you got a good partner too right?” Natasha forced a smiled. “Luck wasn’t on our side, I guess. But these are the pairings, so… maybe it was for the better. Hey, Kate’s your best friend so it’ll be fun to dance with her!”

Clint’s confused look quickly turned into an icy cold stare. He moved away from her, as if she had burned him. 

“You promised,” Clint’s voice was barely above a whisper. Fisk turned to look at Clint, who was standing there looking pissed. “And you’re fine with breaking it?!”

A few students turned behind to look at Clint and Natasha arguing as Clint’s loud voice had startled them. 

“Clint, stop being so childish!” Natasha defended herself, looking alarmed. She took a step back. “You hadn’t ticked the selected pair option and left our names at random pairing option! I thought you wanted to play with luck! That’s why I just left it at that!”

“I didn’t tick because I didn’t know about it! And I didn’t see the damn column!!” Clint argued back.

“Okay, okay,” Kate stepped in, holding her bag close to her. “Your couple’s tiff is really awkward here. Can you guys um… get back to your apartment and then sort it out?”

Clint thought Kate had a point. He gathered himself and his stuff and stormed off, leaving a confused Natasha to stand there. Fisk swung an arm around her.

“Problem?” he asked her sweetly, smiling down at her. Kate saw this and immediately got uncomfortable. She took her stuff and walked out of there, frantically texting someone. 

“No… Clint can be difficult at times, but we usually sort it out,” Natasha smiled. But she felt as if this tiff with Clint was going to last slightly longer. “Fisk, I have to go now, I hope you understand.”

“Oh I do,” Wilson Fisk smiled at her. “It’ll be a pleasure to work with you. Go on, sort out your problems with your boyfriend. We can’t have that hindering you.”

Natasha managed to smile at him, noting how good Fisk was at reading people; he came up to the conclusion that Natasha and Clint were a couple despite them not saying it out loud.

She turned and walked away to the hostel area. Tonight, was going to be a long night. 

Several meters in front of her, Clint was brisk-walking angrily. How fucking dare was Natasha okay with breaking a promise? That was all he could think about. He grimaced when he realized his fault was there too, but if he had made a mistake, shouldn’t Natasha pick it up and correct it? Wasn’t that what couples do for each other, or did the passage of time corrupt this simple stupid thing? 

Clint walked past Bucky, who was buying a sandwich from the vending machine. Bucky’s ‘hello’ was met with silence, and he just stared at Clint’s figure disappearing into the elevator. 

Clint reached the apartment first. He slammed open the door, startling Steve, Tony and Bruce, who were watching the television in the name of taking a break from studying. 

“Hello to you too, sour-patch,” Tony said.

But Clint didn’t acknowledge that. He went straight to his room, where Thor was studying. 

“Hello, friend Clint!” Thor said cheerily as Clint walked in.

Clint slammed his bag, which had his laptop in it, on his table, pushing down his pencil holder. The stuff on Clint’s table flew to the ground, creating a cacophony of sounds. The commotion scared the life out of Thor and the others, who came running in. Thor scurried out, joining them.

“I didn’t know saying hello was a bad thing?” Thor said innocently.

“Clint, what happened?” Steve asked, looking concerned. 

“That Natasha!” he suddenly shouted. “She promised me that I’ll be her dance partner, didn’t tell me about the pairing box, didn’t know, and now we’re with different dance partners!”

“I’m sure it’s something the both of you overlooked,” Tony gave his forehead a massage, knowing this was one of those nights. 

“She hid it from me!! And when I asked her she didn’t look guilty at all and was so happy to be with Fisk!” 

Just then, the front door opened. Natasha walked in, looking worried. 

“Clint, I’m so sorry-” her apology got cut off by Clint. 

“Just stuff it up your ass, Tasha!” Clint shouted at her. 

“Hey,” Steve stepped in. “You don’t talk to a girl like that.”

“It’s between me and her, step aside, Rogers,” Clint said in a warning tone. When Steve didn’t budge, because of the shock he was in hearing Clint speak like that, Tony and Thor pulled him back. 

Clint now turned his attention to Natasha, who looked like she wanted to knock some sense into Clint but couldn’t because she had her hands tied. 

“So, how’s Fisk?” Clint asked condescendingly, folding his arms across his chest. Tony closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. 

“Clint… I didn’t know he was to become my partner,” Natasha sounded tired. “And I saw you didn’t tick the box, so I thought you wanted a different partner or wanted to play with luck, like you always do!” 

“EXCUSES!” Clint exclaimed. “And I wasn’t aware of it, wasn’t told.”

“Then you should have asked, Barton,” Natasha sounded dangerously calm. “If anything, you can pull out of the competition.” 

“No,” Clint stepped into her personal space and said it. “No, I’m going to dance with Kate and win this. It’s on, Natasha. Wasn’t this what you wanted?” 

Natasha’s eyes watered slightly, but she managed to keep it at bay. “You’d be surprised at what I want for you, Barton.”

“Cut the bullshit, Tasha,” Clint let out a laugh. “You’re just a lying piece of shit who wanted to sleep with Fisk to win this competition! Everyone knows what kind of a person you are!”

“Clint!” Steve stepped in, again, fists shaking in fury. “That’s enough, pal. Your words are spiteful and hurtful enough.”

“Good night, Barton,” Natasha said, eyes watering even more. “I hope the night’s sleep can help you recalibrate your thoughts.”

She walked away to her room and slammed the door. It sounded thunderous in the now silent apartment. 

A knock on their front door startled the rest of them. Tony went to get it, while Thor brought Clint to the couch.

“Hey Pep,” Tony smiled at Pepper, who looked concerned. “What brings you here?”

“Your argument can be heard across the hallway. Plus, some of us are studying at the open space so…” she tried to explain.

“Oh.. we’ll keep it down,” Tony said.

“That’s not the problem,” Pepper shook her head. “We  _ heard _ what was going on… how are things?”

Tony turned to have a quick look at the others. Steve was speaking to Clint, while Thor handed him a glass of water. Bruce was attempting to get Natasha to open her room door.

“Things can be better,” Tony smiled weakly, upon turning back.

“I hope things will get better,” Pepper smiled back. She gave him an encouraging pat on his shoulder. 

Tony sighed. “Me too.” 

After closing the door, Tony locked it and turned back. He rested his back against the door, while looking at his housemates. Tony was now concerned that this tiff could create further problems among all 6 of them…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will the 6 of them be okay? :(  
> Please leave a feedback on how the story is so far! :D


	6. Interlude - Wilson Fisk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little information about Wilson Fisk and how he got to know about our dear Natasha Romanoff!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry for my long long absence. I've been very busy with school. Sadly, I can't update the story on a weekly basis, but I will update it when I get the time to do so. I'm sorry about that, guys, I'm really busy.   
> How is your day going? :D  
> Thank you so much for sticking with the story and series so far! Your support means the world to me!   
> Great things are about to come in this AU so stick around! :D  
> This is just a short chapter about things from Fisk's perspective. There are more to come!  
> Happy reading, guys!

When Wilson Fisk first stepped into Grand University, he knew for sure, that he didn’t want to be mocked or ridiculed by others for how he looked; bald, a bit to the chubby side, carrying a mulberry colored bag to school. 

He chose the Business degree in particular, because of his passion for business and his ambition; to open a construction related business someday. And no one was going to stand in his way, not even his own parents. 

He also had a passion for dance; jazz style fused with ballet. He did learn ballet when he was young, but stopped it after he went to high school. But Fisk never forgot anything he learned, including the ballet moves.

So, Fisk joined the Dance Club in his freshman year. No one was his friend, often ridiculing him for his big size. People would laugh whenever he performed a ballet move. People have even asked him to step away from the spotlight.

But Fisk, growing up with a father who was too cruel, knew he didn’t want to be ridiculed by anyone. 

That’s why he stepped up to the dance coach and straight up said, “I want to be the head of the Dance Club.”

Predictably, the coach laughed. “Brush up your skills and then we’ll talk leadership.” The coach had said. Fisk had smirked at that. 

Fisk then went straight up to the current nominated president of the Dance Club. 

“You’re doing your Honors degree, aren’t you? And getting a leadership role must be too good for your portfolio. Tell you what, buddy. I’ll give you a better offer.” The nominated president laughed, looking at a freshman trying to size him up. Fisk continued. “Come on, listen to me. Tell the coach you want to back out and tell him, that you want _me_ to be the next president.” The nominated president argued back. But Fisk wasn’t one to back down. “You are doing a research on elderly people spending their retirement setting up businesses and being an entrepreneur. It would be a shame if your data, report and notes all went missing from the school’s server.” The nominated president was horrified to hear that. Nonetheless, he argued again and Fisk had a comeback for that. “Threatening? If you don’t agree to it, then you would only wish I was threatening you. Also, the changing room is the most secured room here, with no cameras. There’s also no one here. Where do you think they are?”

Just outside the room, Abner Jenkins and James Wesley, Fisk’s two good friends, were blocking the changing room entrance, playing a game of Blackjack with the other students gathered outside. They were all engaged only because of the money involved. Everyone wanted money. 

Fisk had some final words for the nominated president. “I would encourage you, to think about this. Your family in Nebraska are hoping you would come back home with a good degree and education, so that you can help them out. Don’t let them down. Family is everything, after all, isn’t it?”

A week later, Fisk became the nominated president of the Dance Club. And things changed. He made sure the members of the Dance Club were getting more exposure by putting them through competitions. Burnt out or not, students took part in it. Because it added on to their portfolio. The current president couldn't argue because Fisk's activities were improving the quality of the Dance Club, which was what the coach wanted anyway.

Fisk was to become the president, not because of the portfolio looking splendid or the leadership role to improve himself, no. Those were small-level ambitions and Fisk did not do small-level ambitions. 

He simply didn’t want to be ridiculed by anyone. 

And through this Dance Club did he see the beautiful Natasha Romanoff. One night, Fisk was walking to the props room when he saw the red-haired artistry showing her two friends her ballet moves to a pop song. Her movements were elegant, cool on the eyes, and a pleasure to watch. Her twists and turns were perfection. She pulled it off wearing tights and an AC/DC t-shirt. Fisk watched from the shadows, impressed by her. He saw one of her friends, the guy, kiss her lips. Must be the boyfriend. The other girl was simply clapping her hands and cheering loudly. 

Fisk knew there was the Annual Grand Dance competition coming up. And Fisk also heard Natasha talking about it. He also made sure Natasha was to be his partner, no matter what the tick box in the sign up form said.

And now he had gotten what he wanted. He always got what he wanted. Next step was to win the dance competition and, perhaps, Natasha herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you find the story so far? Please leave a feedback, I'll be more than happy to read it! :)


	7. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has an interview with the campus' best journalist student aka Christine Everhart. Natasha and Jessica think the pairing results might have been manipulated. And Clint is still angry with Natasha...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! How are y'all doing?  
> I have time and I'm so glad I can update this story today!  
> I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Leave a comment on how it is so far! I welcome feedback (or constructive criticism) so leave a comment, hehe!  
> And thank you so much for your support for this story and series. It means so much to me, and I'm very grateful for you all!  
> Happy reading! :D

“So, Tony Stark,” Christine Everhart smiled at him. She crossed her legs on top of one another and sized Tony up. “Good to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too, Christine,” Tony smiled. “I heard you wanted to do a spread on me?”

“That’s right, that’s exactly why I’m here,” Christine smiled politely. 

“And an article as well, right?” Tony sat back on the couch and folded his arms. 

Christine pursed her lips and clicked her pen. “I just want to ask a couple of questions, get a couple of quotes and watch you in your natural habitat.”

Tony snorted at Christine’s odd choice of words. ‘Natural habitat’ hm...

“Go ahead,” Tony nodded his head.

It was 3 in the afternoon, and a Thursday afternoon, to be more exact. Christine had already contacted Tony about the interview two days ago, and he would never understand what the hell made him agree to a Thursday afternoon time slot, considering he had to run back to campus for a 5pm class. 

Clint and Thor were the only ones at home at the present moment. 

Oh yes, Clint and Natasha now have a cold war between each other. It’s been three days since their fight. They’re not talking to each other and it’s driving the others in the apartment absolutely crazy. They didn’t eat together or leave for school together anymore. Natasha left the apartment early, while Clint took his time. Tony pitied Bruce and Thor, who had to share their room with an angry Clint.

Just before the interview today, Happy had contacted Tony and had wished him all the best. Christine loved to grill her subjects, but she had a talent of not making them uncomfortable. And this was why the campus newspaper editor, J. Jonah Jameson loved getting her to work on major articles. Like this one. 

“Okay Tony, what made you come to Grand U?” Christine started off strong.

Tony was taken aback by this question. But he played it cool. “At first I thought of attending a university in New York City, but chose Boston because I wanted to move away from my family. Grand U has a good reputation and their integrated hostel system caught my eye so, here I am.”

Christine was furiously writing some notes. Her phone was recording Tony’s answer, and she only pressed the record button after Tony’s consent. 

“What about your course? You did very well in high school, built a good portfolio and are doing electrical engineering. Why didn’t you choose some other course to venture out into?”

Tony leaned forward and cleared his throat. “I uh, I believe that we should go for our passion, no matter what. If you’re good at something and you love doing that something, then you can do it well. And to me it’s not about venturing. I can  _ venture  _ through my cross-disciplinary modules. But I have a passion for engineering and creating things so… I think that answers your question.”

“I feel like you’re too smart for Grand U. I mean, you made a circuit board when you were 4. I could barely eat my veges when I was that age!”

Tony laughed at that. “Yeah, I might be too smart. Maybe I just wanted to experience being with normal people.”

The moment that answer left his mouth, Tony cringed. Happy had also prepared him for the interview and the number one rule he had told Tony was to not give sarcastic answers, as the quote can be used against him. And there it went. 

“Let’s talk about your background,” Christine flipped her notebook, to look at the questions she had prepared to ask. Tony stiffened at that statement. “What made you want to become an engineer? I’m sure many people have passion for something, and there are usually funny stories behind people finding what they love to do. Do you have any that made you want to become an engineer?”

Tony felt his throat go dry. This question was a bit to the sensitive side as Tony hadn’t found his passion like how normal kids found theirs. Tony’s father was abusive. Known fact. He had taken an interest in engineering at that young age only to impress his father. But as he studied it and realized what he could do, it immediately became something he loved to do. His was an accidental finding. Plus he was a genius. 

“Um, yeah sure. I found my passion when I was young, I think you can point that out because you have done a lot of research on me, based on the circuit board and portfolio I had built in high school. I must say, I’m pretty impressed at you for digging up those stuff about me because even professional journalists don’t bother about that… I mean, I’m not saying you’re an amateur or trying to undermine you, my point is, I'm impressed. I’m rambling, aren’t I?” Tony sighed.

“Yeah...” Christine nodded her head slowly. “If the question made you uncomfortable, we can move on.”

“Oh no, I just wanted to say that I found my passion for making things when I was at that age, when you could barely eat your veges… Yeah,” Tony shrugged, losing words. Suddenly, he didn’t know how to speak.

Christine raised an eyebrow and wrote down some stuff on her notepad. “It’s obvious that you’ll be taking over your company in the far future. Are you thinking of anything to change from your father’s leadership?”

Tony was about to tell her that he needed a time-out when Clint and Thor came out of their room. Clint was obviously hiding his feelings; he was grinning like a fool. Thor had a soft smile plastered across his face. He went to the kitchen.

“Heya, Tony,” Clint slid across the couch Tony was seated on. He sat on Tony’s lap and winked at Christine. 

“Natural habitat,” Tony smiled uneasily. 

“He’s the best,” Clint playfully caressed Tony’s cheek. “And he can whip your ass into nothingness.”

Christine raised her eyebrows, writing down some notes. Tony noticed it.

“He’s just over-exaggerating things. I’m good at what I do, but I believe everyone are good at what they do too,” Tony tried to manage.

“Oh sweetheart,” Clint cooed. “You’re so modest.”

Christine stood up, obviously done with the interview. She stopped the recording on her phone and placed it back into her jeans pocket. “Can I see your room? Natural habitat; I need the feel to write the article out.”

Tony pushed Clint off his lap and showed Christine to his room. 

“Be careful, this is where Tony and his dear roommate Steve sleep together,” Clint smirked.

“He meant share the room,” Tony had a quick save. He threw Clint a glare. 

Christine took down some notes as she walked around his room. She went to his desk and examined his items. She spotted a couple of engineering books and a theater study book. There were pens scattered across his desk. He had a couple of photos pasted on the wall in front of him. There was of him with two adults - a man (Jarvis) grinning and a woman (Ana) hugging him. The photo beside it was of him and obviously his mother - Christine recognized Maria Stark from the press photos. There was a polaroid with his Uni housemates, a photo of him and Rhodey together in New York, another photo of him in High School with Pepper and Happy licking an ice cream. Christine noted how there wasn’t a photo of Tony with his father. She wrote it down. 

She turned to look at the beds - they were connected. Tony’s side was messier than whoever he was sharing with. Christine walked out of the room and went to the kitchen, where Thor was. 

“May I look inside?” Christine asked Tony.

“Knock yourself out,” Tony nodded his head. 

Christine opened the fridge and checked the items out. Absolutely minimalistic. She took note of the mugs that were stacked on the rack - 6 different colors that almost made a rainbow out. Almost. The kitchen was very neat. 

“You guys are neat,” she smiled at Thor.

“Yes,” Thor nodded his head. “We dislike Steven’s wrath when things aren’t neat here.”

“Steven?” Christine frowned.

“Yes. His boyfriend,” Thor casually pointed at Tony.

“Wow, bold statement. I like it,” Christine smiled at Tony. She wrote down a couple of notes. “Okay, I seem to be done here. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“You’re welcome,” Tony smiled. Christine grabbed her bag and walked out of the apartment. “The article will be featured in next semester’s issue. I’ll call you if I have any follow-up questions?”

“Sure.”

“Alright. See ya, Tony,” Christine waved. She then walked away.

Tony shut the apartment door. He turned to Clint, exhaling sharply. “Really? You were about to dish out my sexual life with the campus bitch journalist?” 

“Would have been a fun edition!” Clint laughed. He plopped down onto the couch and switched on the television. 

“It would have been scandalous!!!” Tony quipped defensively. 

“Stop fighting and join us,” Thor laughed, walking to the couch with a packet of yogurt. 

“I have work to do, guys. Theater module is killing me,” Tony waved them off.  “Holler if you need something.”

“Happy studying, buddy!” Clint called out. 

Tony sighed and sat down at his desk. He opened his theater book and started to read it, pushing the interview that just took place to the back of his mind.

 

...

 

Natasha and Jessica were silently studying together at the entrance of the Science School. They were highlighting important details on their lecture notes as they had a test coming up for one of their modules. Their lunch, which were takeaways from the Engineering School cafe, was abandoned at the corner of the table. 

Jessica was the first to know about what had happened three days ago; the argument and the results. She had come over to 6-39, and spent the entire night talking and consoling Natasha, who was dejected because of Clint’s words. Jessica had slept over. The next day, both of them left for school early, together. Jessica had borrowed Natasha’s clothes and they left before any of the guys woke up. 

And that’s what Natasha had been doing; avoiding. She didn’t want to talk to anyone or even to Clint. She just wanted to let the issue rest for a while, and then talk it out. Clint getting angry was something that could last for days. 

“Hey guys,” Karen’s voice shook the two focused girls, snapping them out of attention. “Sorry, I saw you guys and thought of saying a hi.” 

“Hey,” Jessica smiled at her housemate.

“Hi,” Natasha’s greeting was anything but with life. 

“Nat… I’m sorry, I saw the results,” Karen said sadly. 

“Thanks Karen. I guess some things aren’t meant to be,” Natasha looked away. Jessica turned to look at her best friend, feeling concerned.

“Have a test coming up?” Karen nodded at their open books, highlighters and pens placed all over the table. 

“Yup, pretty big test, counted into the grades,” Jessica sighed. “You Business school kids are so lucky.”

“Excuse me, we have tests too, and we study macroeconomics, that’s a pain in the ass by itself,” Karen laughed, prompting Jessica to laugh too. Natasha didn’t respond to that. “Anyway, I’ll leave you all to it. I better get going. I need to discuss about logistics and planning of the competition with the committee.”

“Sure, talk to you later,” Jessica smiled. 

Karen was already walking away when a thought hit her. She went back to the two girls. 

“I have something weird to tell you both,” Karen frowned a little. Both Jessica and Natasha looked up at her expectantly. “Remember the day Nat and Clint signed up for the competition? Clint had forgotten to tick the fixed pair option, and Nat didn’t too. So I thought of helping you both out by ticking the option before I submitted the list to the committee. It’s just… it’s nothing but… it’s weird why the committee wouldn’t take that into consideration…”

Natasha stiffened at that information. Jessica watched warily, at Natasha’s reaction to it. 

“Well… could… maybe the committee have overlooked it?” Jessica suggested. 

“I’m so sorry… I’m part of the committee and I should have…” Karen waved her hand around.

“No no,” Natasha blurted out. “Don’t apologize it’s not your fault.” 

“I thought I should let you know that,” Karen smiled apologetically at Natasha. “I’ll see you two later. Bye guys.”

“Bye, Karen…” Jessica muttered. 

Karen walked away, blending in with the student population walking towards the library. 

“Do you think the committee overlooked it?” Jessica asked Natasha, who had a faraway gaze. 

These two girls were studying criminal sciences and even though Jessica was verbally suggesting this, inwardly they both knew there could only have been a possible reason for this mess to have occurred: someone from the committee, other than Karen, manipulating the pairings. But why would they have done that? 

Natasha inhaled sharply. “I need to focus on this.” 

“Be careful with your dance partner who you’re meeting later,” Jessica took a purple highlighter. 

Natasha threw her pen across the desk and groaned. “I will be seeing Clint later too. This is an official meeting from the committee, to discuss about genres and songs…”

Jessica looked at her best friend with pity. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Natasha involuntarily snapped. “I can hold my own.”

“Yeah, but can your boyfriend hold his own?” Jessica quipped.

 

…

 

In the evening, Clint and Kate were silently walking to the dance studios in the Arts Center. Kate sighed as she looked at Clint, who had his jaws locked; he wasn’t interested in seeing Natasha’s face today. But oh well, fate had it that they had to be at the same place together today..  

“Clint,” Kate started, bracing herself. “Say something. It’s so uncomfortable.”

Clint kept walking and looked straight ahead. “I’m not interested in this anymore, no offense, Kate.”

“None taken,” Kate said. “But… if you’re not interested then why are you going for the meeting?” 

Clint stopped dead on his tracks. He turned to look at Kate. “I don’t know. I challenged Nat but that’s it.”

“If you really were uncomfortable, you would have opted out and I would have been a solo dancer,” Kate pointed out. 

“What are you trying to say?” Clint asked with a straight face.

“What I’m trying to say, Clint, is that you have a passion for dancing and a change in partner isn’t going to stop you from dancing.”

Kate’s words hit home. Clint was just looking at her because her assessment was correct. Clint loved to dance, had danced when he was younger but stopped after his aunt pulled him out of the dance class when he was a sophomore in High School. In fact, he was learning ballet.

And Clint would do anything to go back to those days just to dance. Kate was right. He would have dropped out of the competition. But he was here because he wanted to dance and not because he had challenged Natasha. 

“Thank you, Kate,” Clint smiled. “You’re the best.”

Kate smiled at him sincerely. “I know right. Come on, let’s go.”

Both of them walked to the dance studio. They entered the room, which was a big space, and had long paneled mirrors on the opposite sides of the room. Clint looked around, and saw Natasha hanging out with Fisk. The three groups, two solo dancers and the other two pairs were already seated inside. Kate shut the door and Clint and herself decided to sit near the exit. 

Clint ignored Natasha, who was looking at him. 

“Still having troubles?” Clint heard Fisk ask her. 

“It's okay we'll sort it out,” Natasha smiled at her dance partner. 

“Isn’t he like the nominated President of the Dance Club? How can he participate?” Kate whispered to Clint.

“He can because he can do whatever he wants,” Clint scoffed. “Also, this is the Grand Dance Competition organized by an external vendor partnering with the school. Committee was handpicked by them. No rules apply on who can apply.”

“That seems unfair,” Kate scoffed. “But I don’t see any other Dance Club members, other than Fisk and Natasha.”

“She left the club,” Clint said absentmindedly. “She loves the club but hated the drama so she left it.”

Before Kate could ask anything further, the main committee entered the room. Karen Page was one of them. Kate and Clint smiled at her. Clint also noticed Fisk giving one of the committee members a wave. James Wesley waved back, grinning. 

“This is just an easy meeting,” Karen started off once the committee settled down. “This is also like a meet-and-greet among competitors and you will choose your dance genres and songs.”

“What if two people choose the same genres and songs?” Fisk asked her.

Karen looked like she didn’t want to entertain that question. But she had to. “No one will be penalized for choosing the same genre or songs. So you can choose the same genre or songs as another person or pair or group here.”

“Discuss among your group or pairs. You have ten minutes to tell us your genre and songs,” the bald and round teacher-in-charge added on. 

“What are we choosing?” Clint asked Kate once they settled down.

“Ballet fusion?” Kate raised an eyebrow. “Like, duh, Clint.”

“Song?” 

“How about songs?” Kate smiled.

“Favorite song?” Clint looked bored.

“Human by Sia,” Kate replied. “Yours?”

“Counting Stars,” Clint replied flatly. “Combine them and mash up. We’ll dance to that.”

“Do we have a concept?” 

Clint didn’t have an immediate answer for this. He sat back, resting his back against the wall and stared at Kate. “What do you think we should tell the audience?”

Kate was holding her knees close to her chest. She was playing with her shoelaces. “Since we’re dancing to our favorite songs, we dance to show that with passion anything is possible.”

Clint smiled at her, even though the smile had no life in it. He could see Natasha talking to Fisk from his peripheral vision. He tried not to show his sadness out, of not talking to Natasha this long. He missed her and wished things could go back to normal. But looking at Fisk beside her only made Clint’s blood boil. He just wanted this stupid meeting to end. Was that too much to ask for?

“We’ll stick to this,” Clint told Kate. “See, you don’t need 10 minutes for this. We’re done.”

Kate raised both her eyebrows. She gave Clint an awkward smile, and sighed. 

“Can you not look at Natasha that way? It’s creepy,” Kate moved closer to Clint to whisper to him.

“She’s my girlfriend, Kate, I stare at her any way I want,” Clint shrugged.

“Not like a goddamn psychopath!” Kate nudged his arm hard, making him squeal in pain. “Yeah, serves you right.” 

Natasha momentarily turned to look at Clint and Kate, upon hearing Clint’s squeal in pain. Kate smiled at her, whereas Clint ignored her. Natasha turned back when Fisk called her. 

“You’re still not talking to her?” Kate scoffed.

Clint looked at his fingernails. “No.”

Kate threw her hands up, shaking her head. “Right, if you have spoken to her, then I should know because the sun would have risen from the West.” 

“What?” Clint let out a laugh. 

“Yeah, it means you did something unbelievable!” Kate rolled her eyes. 

“Well, Kate Bishop, sorry to disappoint you but the sun did rise from the East today,” Clint stood up, giving her a side smile. 

He walked over to the committee, who were seated at their desks in a neat row. Kate scrambled to get up to join Clint.

“Hi, my partner and I have decided our genre and songs. Can we get this done with?” Clint asked, irritation laced in his tone.

“Sure,” Karen nodded her head before any other committee member pointed out Clint’s rude tone. “Genre and songs?”

“Human by Sia and Counting Stars by OneRepublic,” Clint replied. “Genre is Ballet and Hip-Hop. It’s a fusion.”

The committee members looked impress at the choice. 

“We have also chosen the same genre,” Wilson Fisk’s voice came from behind Clint and Kate. “Different songs, though.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Karen said, without giving him eye contact. 

“All the best, Barton,” Fisk gave Clint’s shoulder a pat. Kate’s eyes widened. 

Clint pulled back roughly, not wanting Fisk to touch him. He turned to face Fisk, glaring at him. Natasha and Wesley stiffened up. 

“Is there a problem?” Wesley asked Clint, defending his best friend Fisk. 

“Clint, let’s go,” Kate held her best friend’s hand, stopping him from replying to Wesley. “Come on.”

Kate managed to pull Clint out of there, almost sending him crashing onto the floor. Clint never broke eye contact from Fisk. He kept staring daggers at him. Kate picked up hers and Clint's bags from the floor. She dragged Clint out of the dance studio. Clint’s gaze shifted to Natasha, who had her eyebrows raised. Fisk kept smirking, casually swinging an arm around Natasha’s shoulder. 

Kate kicked shut the door before Clint could do anymore damage. She pushed him away, sliding down onto the floor. She panted hard as she was holding many items and was man-hauling an angry Clint out of the dance studio. 

Clint sat opposite her.

“What was that, Clinny?” Kate pursed her lips. She pushed Clint’s bag to him. 

“I just wanted to punch Fisk,” Clint raised his voice. “That asshat!”

“For Pete’s sake,” Kate stood up, finding the strength. “Stop acting like an idiot and focus on yourself! You’re so angry at everyone around you. But Clint, what’s the point of focusing on all that when you’re neglecting yourself? You’ve barely spoken to your girlfriend, always are at the archery range and I can see eye bags starting to emerge! Get yourself together, Clint, please. If you think you cannot cope with seeing your girlfriend dance with someone else, then pull out of the competition. I can go solo.”

Clint stood up quickly, almost going dizzy. “I’m not gonna pull out. I’ll dance with you because I have a passion for this too.”

“Then stop being a first-class dick and work with me here,” Kate softened her tone. 

“It’s cunt,” Clint interrupted her.

“What?” Kate got confused.

“It’s a Gordon Ramsay insult!” Clint explained, brightening up a little. “Replace dick with cunt and that’s the insult!”

Kate was just staring at Clint, wondering what the fuck he was on about. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. “Your statement defined my sexuality.”

Clint snorted. He swung an arm around his best friend and started walking back to the hostel area. “Except, it’s not an insult.”

Right behind them, Natasha had just stepped out of the dance studio. She watched them both walk away, sighing sadly. She walked away before Fisk could get to her. She too, was headed back to Building A. But she couldn’t bear to see Clint. So, she decided to stop by the Science School Cafe for a quick bite.

While Clint and Kate continued walking towards the exit of the Grand Sports and Arts Center, Natasha turned right to the Science School, looking crumpled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think Christine is going to write about?  
> And most importantly, is Natasha going to be okay? :(  
> Leave a comment or feedback, I'll be happy to read them! :D


	8. Drama Here and There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony talks to both Natasha and Clint. Also, we get a glimpse of Tony in his theater module class!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! How are you guys doing? Hope you're all having a great weekend so far. Here's another chapter and happy reading, y'all!! Thank you so much for your support so far! :))  
> Also, I have a nice Stony story coming up for this Christmas! Can't wait to post it! :D

_ “Like I said, Tony! Get out of my life!!!!” Howard Stark screamed at Tony, left hand holding a glass of scotch, and the right flying towards Tony’s face.  _

_ The slap landed hard, the sound echoing in the room. Everything else blurred after the slap.  _

Tony jumped up on his bed, shuddering from the bad dream he had. His hand shot up to the cheek that was hit by the slap in his dream. He was panting and stared at his study table opposite him for a few seconds, to re-calibrate himself. Everything was slowly coming back. He could even hear Steve’s soft snore coming from right beside him. That made him smile a little. Tony decided to get up and get a drink. Like a hot chocolate or something. He knew it was going to be a long time before he could sleep back. So, he might as well get a drink and study something at this odd hour. 

He slowly crawled out of bed, not wanting to wake Steve up. He switched on his phone to check the time; it was 3.39am. He switched on the phone’s torchlight and walked towards the door. 

He slowly opened the door and was surprised to see the television running. Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen was playing on it. Now who in this apartment wanted to be a culinary expert at this hour? 

Tony found Clint just staring at the screen, obviously not focusing on the show. 

“Clint?” Tony rubbed his eyes. He switched off the torch light and joined Clint at the couch. “Aren’t you sleepy?” 

“Hey Tony,” Clint said, without looking at him. “Nah, not really.”

“Well,” Tony scratched his head. “Can I sit with you for a while?”

“Knock yourself out,” Clint said in a monotonous voice.

Tony sat back on the couch. He could hear Gordon Ramsay’s insults at the contestants, despite the very low volume. Clint was just staring at the television and that was concerning Tony to a great extent.

“Clint…” Tony sighed. “Are you still mad at Nat?”

Clint tried not to show the change in his body language. “Why?”

“You’re a pretty good sleeper, who loves to sleep. So seeing you here at this hour not asleep is not right,” Tony explained. 

Clint let out a soft humorless chuckle. “You’re right on all accounts.”

“Why are you still angry at something that wasn’t solely her fault?” Tony crossed his arms.

“Tony,” Clint turned to look at Tony. “A promise means a lot to me. Breaking it doesn’t sit well with me. Why would I accept a promise and not put in an effort to keep it?”

“You can’t keep all promises.”

“Then don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Tony sighed as those were Jarvis’ words. 

“I don’t think Natasha was trying to break her promise… It was a mistake… And you too made a mistake.”

“I know, but at least I’m repenting it,” Clint threw his hands up into the air.

“And she’s repenting for it too, in her own way. And your actions are frankly making her pay more,” Tony pointed out.

“Real good talk here, Tony. I think it’s time we both went to our rooms,” Clint stood up.

“Hey hey hey, okay, fine. I’ll backtrack a little. I’ll make us both instant hot chocolate, come on,” Tony quickly stood up to pacify Clint. Clint pursed his lips, but followed Tony to the kitchen. 

Tony was quick in making the hot chocolate, especially in the dark. The silence that was stretching between them made it very awkward to stand there. Tony was meticulous but fast, hoping Clint wouldn’t walk away. 

“Clint,” Tony sighed as he passed Clint his instant hot chocolate. “You have to learn how to forgive.”

“Forgiving is possible but forgetting is impossible,” Clint scoffed. 

“You say it real quick, Clint, you’ve known Natasha the longest. You know that if this kind of situation arises between the both of you, you gotta talk it out,” Tony said. He took a sip from his drink and cursed himself as he nearly burned his tongue. “You two aren’t talking it out; this apartment is more quiet and feels like it lost its life.”

“You’re trying to tell me that Nat and I are like a glue here?” Clint raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes and no. I’m trying to say that we all are the glue here. One of us give way and we pave way for the rest of us to give way,” Tony explained. He hopped up and sat on the kitchen counter. Clint hopped up and sat beside Tony. “Best example is Bruce. When he detached himself away from us, wasn’t the apartment a bit too quiet?” 

Clint couldn’t argue with that. In fact, Tony didn’t expect him to. Bruce was naturally quiet with little words, but when Ross was bullying him, his silence was a torture for the rest of them living with him. Not knowing what he was going through, everyone felt like they were the cause of his silence. Tony couldn’t let that happen again. These people were his good friends and whatever problem they had, they had to talk it out with each other. 

“So, I talk to Nat?” Clint asked. 

“Yes,” Tony said a little too quickly. “Breakfast or in school or during dinner, or during your lunch. Find the time, Clint. Just… fight for your relationship.” 

Clint looked at Tony, with a more softer look. He smiled. “Thanks Tones. Your words mean a lot to me.” He gave Tony’s shoulder a pat, before jumping off of the kitchen counter. “Are you gonna sleep?”

“Nah, had a nightmare. I don’t think I can. I was planning to do some reading up,” Tony sighed. 

“Reading up on? Some engineery stuff?” Clint smiled.

“Actually, I was planning to read up on the different forms of theaters,” Tony grinned sheepishly. The grin widened when Clint narrowed his eyes at him. “What…? I just want to be at my best in that module, okay…?”

“Sure, and you will be,” Clint placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Right now, you and me pal, we’re going to watch some stuff.”

“Sounds suspicious,” Tony laughed. 

“Not what you’re thinking,” Clint rolled his eyes. “We’re gonna watch some Gordon Ramsay.”

“Why?” Tony jumped off of the counter. 

“To learn some first class insults,” Clint grinned. “You in or are you gonna be paranoid about your module?”

Tony smiled at Clint’s attempt to make sure he was okay. “Fine, I’m in.”

Both of them went to the couch area with their cups of hot chocolate. They turned up the volume slightly and sat back to listen to some Gordon Ramsay roasts.

 

…

 

Turned out, both Clint and Tony had fallen asleep on the couch, completely forgetting about their cups of hot chocolate. Clint’s hot chocolate had spilled all over his neck and shirt, and Clint wasn’t even aware of it!! Tony’s cup had fallen onto the couch but thank fuck as he had finished his hot chocolate. The cup went missing inside the couch. It still hadn’t been found yet. Clint had fallen asleep on top of Tony, who was sprawled across the couch. 

And Thor had taken a photo of it. He had sent it to the level 6 chat group. Everyone except Natasha had reacted to it on Whatsapp. 

“Well shit,” Tony smiled to himself, feeling embarrassed as he saw the photo for the sixth time on his phone. 

He was currently sitting at the back of his drama module classroom. All the tables and chairs were pushed to the side, so that the classroom was more free and empty for students to perform. Tony sighed and sat back, leaning against the white wall. 

That's when Whitney Frost entered the class. Tony pretended to not have seen her. The class hadn’t even started yet and he didn’t want his mood to be ruined. 

“Hi Beth!” Whitney squealed. “I didn’t know you were here!”

She was talking to Bethany Cabe, who was in the same drama module as Tony. Tony knew Beth from his high school. She’s one of his friends, but they’re not so close. Beth and Tony had partnered up on a science project together, which they had naturally scored an A on. But he knew Beth wasn’t so interested in science. He was proven right when he found out Beth had entered the same Uni as he did, only posted to the School of Information Technology, where she was taking Cybersecurity Forensics. 

“Hi Whitney,” Bethany smiled politely. “I thought you were in the other class?” 

“Oh, long story, but short, that class’ teacher has two classes to take, and there were a lot of people in my class. So, some of us went to the first and fourth classes. Apparently, I’m the only one who made it to the first class,” Whitney explained. She sat beside Bethany and made herself comfortable. 

Tony was rage texting Pepper, saying how the universe had conspired against him. Yeah, what were the odds of Whitney coming to the same class as him when there was one more class that could have taken her in? From his peripheral vision, Tony could see Whitney looking at him. He continued to ignore her. 

Just then, the module’s teacher in-charge, Professor Simon Williams entered the class. He asked the students to gather at the front for a quick warm up session. Professor Williams was a charming man, who was wearing a black shirt (that was slightly tight for him because of his muscular body) and jeans. He's a nice Professor who had a passion for acting; his classes were most enjoyed by students. 

Tony stood beside Bethany. His good friend, Carson Wyche, whom Tony had met in his class last semester, was on Tony’s other side, and Tony and him shared a quick smile. 

“Now, we are going to try something exciting,” Professor Williams smiled. “I’m going to play some songs, and you kids are going to walk around the classroom. You choose how you want to walk, what kind of facial expression you want to have based on the song. Okay?”

The students nodded their heads in consent. 

The first song was I Love My Friends by Foster The People. The students started walking around in different directions. Tony was walking confidently, thinking about his friends back at 6-39. He felt like he was back in Malibu with the others. He smiled to himself when heard the chorus; yeah, he damn well loved his friends and boyfriend too much. Tony imagined the streets of Malibu. He soon forgot that he was in the classroom, passing by Whitney nearly every three seconds. 

The song then changed to Mac Demarco’s Chamber of Reflection. Every single student slowed their walking pace down, including Tony, who knew this song and loved this song. Tony imagined himself walking down a quiet New York street at night, after it had stopped raining. He drowned out his surroundings, ignoring the other students. He looked ahead, seeming reflective, while the other students had their gazes downwards and looked sad. 

The next song, and last song, was Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough. Everyone’s moods got lifted within a second. They all started to walk faster again. Some of them got into the groove and made a silly dance move. The Professor and some students laughed. Tony pictured himself dancing at the walkway from Building A to the campus, with his friends walking and laughing behind him. That was something he’d definitely do.

“Carson, come on, jam with me!!” Tony grinned. He took Carson by the hand and both of them danced together. Other students who were walking broke into a dance too. Bethany moved along, while Whitney was slightly self-conscious about dancing in front of everyone. 

Tony twirled Carson with ease, and did a salsa move. Carson did a groovy move, making Tony grin. Boy did Tony love bringing out his good friends’ wild sides!

The teacher was nice enough to let the song play till the end. It faded off, and the students stopped dancing. Tony and some of the students clapped for all those who had bravely broken into a dance. 

“I wonder what was the point of this,” Carson was panting. But he was smiling at Tony, who was smiling back at him. 

“So, you’re probably wondering what the hell was the point of all these?” Professor Williams grinned. The students chuckled a little. “Different songs elicit different moods from all of you. The last song made you happy and dance. The first song made you think about your friends, right?”

“Yes,” Tony and the students replied.

“And the second song made you sad,” Professor Williams eyed Tony. “Tony, I got the chance to look at your expression when Mac Demarco was playing. Everyone else had their gazes pointed downwards except for you. You were looking straight ahead, with a contemplative expression on your face. Is it okay if you explain why? What was going on in your head when that song was playing?”

Tony shifted uncomfortably at the sudden spotlight. But he recovered within a few seconds - his confident-self reappeared. He swallowed, not wanting to speak about it but having to. He gave Professor Williams a small nod before replying. 

“Oh um,” Tony felt uneasy. “I know the song. I mean, I was listening to it some time after I broke up with my ex and I understood the lyrics. So I looked up, I guess? I was thinking of the good times we had and then how some time later they were no more. So I reflected on what kind of a human being I am, if it was my fault for the break up. I was more reflective than sad, so I guess that’s why I was looking straight ahead...”

Professor Williams nodded his head. Tony thought he was in trouble for giving another kind of facial expression.

“That was unique,” Professor Williams smiled. “Tony, good job on bringing out something painful and placing it on the surface. That’s how some actors choose to act too. Using your past experiences to suit your current emotion on screen. Well done, Tony.”

The class erupted into an applause for Tony, who wasn’t expecting any of this. Carson nudged Tony’s side with a smile. Tony returned back the nudge and smile. 

“Good job,” Bethany whispered to Tony. Tony winked at her with a smile. 

Whitney on the other hand, rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what Tony was talking about. But couldn’t be bothered about it. She was the only one who wasn’t clapping. 

The class took a short break before ushering into the presentation aspect. 

Tony and Carson decided to take a little walk around the Arts Center. 

“That was one hell of an exercise,” Carson said. 

“I vote for it to become a mandatory thing. It’s more fun than the warm ups we do,” Tony shrugged.

“Dude, the warm ups are needed to do this exercise,” Carson laughed. 

“Can’t we make this exercise a warm up?” 

“Nah, I don’t think that’s the point of it. I think the point of this was to draw out our emotions, to make us feel and react, just like acting. Just like what Prof said.”

Tony took in Carson’s words. He nodded his head, realizing that maybe just maybe, he could do well for this module. 

Just then, Tony spotted Justin Hammer studying alone at one of the benches at the Arts Center. 

“I see a friend.” Tony started to jog to Justin’s bench.

“He’s a friend?” Carson too started to jog. He frowned. 

“Hey Justin!” Tony grinned. “What are you doing here alone?” 

“Hey,” Justin removed his earpiece. “Studying. I'm doing engineering math. The last question is hard to understand.”

Justin showed Tony the question. Tony studied it and came up with the answer within seconds.

“They cancel each other out, that should help you.”

Carson examined it too. After a few seconds, he nodded his head. “Yeah…. yeah yeah it makes sense. It would have taken me long and your clue helped out.”

Justin smiled. “Now it makes sense. Thank you, Tony.”

“Hey, you don’t have to hang out and study alone. Carson and I have decided to study together every Thursday after class. At 6pm. We get dinner for each of us, but we rotate it. So if this week I get dinner for us, next week Carson does. Wanna join us, Justin?” Tony extended his hand out.

“You make it sound like it’s a business deal,” Justin chuckled. He took Tony’s hand. “Alright, I’m in. I mean, I get to hang out with someone cool.”

“I’m not in that category,” Tony shrugged. “Pleased doing business with you. Anyway, we have our module group chat. My number is there, just get it and text me if you have any doubts. I’ll be more than happy to help.”

“Thanks Tony,” Justin smiled. 

“We gotta go now,” Carson said.

Both Tony and Carson waved at Justin, and walked back to the classroom.

“You’re friends with Justin Hammer?” Carson asked.

“Yeah, why?” Tony frowned. What’s so abnormal about being friends with Hammer?

“I mean… he’s a guy who always tries to be with the cool kids. He’d do anything to get there,” Carson said. “I wouldn’t trust him that much.”

“True that…” Tony nodded his head, remembering his behavior on the first day of school. “But then, I also saw him all alone. I know how it feels when you’re all alone, with no friends at all.”

Carson saw Tony’s sad smile. He swung an arm around his friend. “I’m right here. We can bond over engineering and now, theater!”

Tony grinned, the sad smile melting away. “You make it sound almost easy, pal!”

“How dare you!” Carson laughed and chased Tony back to the theater classroom.

 

…

 

The theater module’s tutorial class ended at 5pm sharp. Tony sighed a sigh of relief, as he could finally go back to the apartment and chill a little, right before working on one of his assignments. Carson said his goodbyes before running off to his apartment. Today, Carson and his housemates have decided to cook dinner together. That’s why Carson was rushing. Bethany said her goodbyes to Tony before discreetly leaving the Arts Center. 

Tony was walking alone, spirits high because he had enjoyed today’s lesson. He smiled softly to himself when he saw someone standing right in front of him.

Fucking Whitney Frost.

“Hey, Anthony,” Whitney gave him a fake smile. “Nice explanation just now. Did it take you so long to get over me?” 

Tony scoffed. “Nah. Didn’t take me too long. You became redundant within a few weeks.”

Whitney’s fake smile vanished. She turned cold. “Such a good actor. This module suits you fine.”

“Not as great as an actor like you, Whitney,” Tony dissed her before walking away. 

“Hey, punk!” a deep voice shook Tony.

He turned behind to see Ty smiling at him mockingly. 

“Honey,” Whitney crooned. Ty pulled her to him and gave her a hard kiss. Tony rolled his eyes and started to walk away. 

“Heya Tony, we ain’t done yet!” Ty was walking to Tony. Whitney was so enjoying this. 

Tony just wanted to break into a run. He kept walking when a soft hand held him. 

“Hey Tony,” Natasha smiled at him. “Let’s walk back together.”

“Nat?” Tony stared at her, wondering where the fuck she came from. And then he realized this was the Arts Center. 

“Let’s go,” she smiled sweetly at Tony. Both of them turned behind to look at Ty, standing there with Whitney, staring at Natasha.

Natasha blessed Ty with her deadliest death glare. Even Whitney shuddered. Tony looked at Natasha and felt scared for a moment. 

“Let’s go,” she said firmly, still glaring at the two figures now looking small. 

Natasha hooked her arm with Tony’s and they started to walk towards the hostel area. Tony gulped, not knowing Natasha had such a lethal glare; he didn’t know how protective Natasha could get. 

“So that…” Tony lost words. 

“I would've punched them.” Natasha said. “But I didn't want to touch them.”

Tony recoiled. “That was savage!” 

Natasha grinned at Tony. Tony was laughing, feeling the adrenaline he had starting to course around his body. 

“I’m protective of all my friends, deal with it,” Natasha waved it off. 

“I can’t even,” Tony wiped the tears of laughter. “I didn’t expect you. I was about to run; fight or flight system got activated… Bless you, Natasha!”

“Don’t mention,” Natasha smiled. “Anyway, you want to get something from the cafe?”

“Sure, tried the stuff from the Humanities one?”

“There’s a cafe at the Humanities School?” Natasha frowned.

“Honey, you’re missing out so much in life!” 

That was how Tony found himself buying 3 chocolate-filled croissants, one bowl of mac and cheese and two cups of coffee. He winked at the cashier, Nick.

“You know him?” Natasha asked. 

“Yeah, he’s fiance is a good cook,” Tony grinned. 

Both of them helped themselves to the food. Natasha took a bite from the croissant and closed her eyes. 

“This is delicious,” she smiled. “My go to comfort food cafe is here!”

Tony laughed. He digged into his mac and cheese. “What were you doing at the Arts Center?”

“Studying,” Natasha shrugged. “Jessica and I study there if the Science school benches are all taken.”

“Sorry for distracting you,” Tony sighed.

“No, actually I was done. I wanted to go back to Building A but then I saw you and the two asshats,” Natasha smiled. “I was more than happy to help you. Also, if they keep giving you problems, just tell me. I’ll beat some sense into those idiots.”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “It’s fine. What’s life without a little challenge, right? Speaking of which, how are you?”

Natasha helped herself to another croissant. “I’m okay. Tests are coming up, so I’m kinda packed.”

Tony just kept looking at her, expecting the real answer.

“What?” Natasha acted like she didn’t know what Tony was insinuating.

“Clint,” Tony gave up. “He still isn’t talking?”

Natasha shook her head. 

“Did you try talking to him?”

“No,” Natasha took a sip of coffee. “I know his anger can last for weeks.”

“So, you didn’t try?”

Natasha shook her head. 

“Nat, I’m sorry to be the one but you really need to try,” Tony leaned closer to talk to her. “He’s hurt too. And you two have to talk and patch it up. It’s not gonna be easy but really… please.”

Natasha just kept staring at Tony, unable to articulate any words. She shook her head and shrugged, smiling a forced smile. 

“I’ll try, okay,” Natasha let out a long sigh. “It’s gonna be hard because I know what a thick-headed moron Clint is, but I love him.”

“Fight for it,” Tony encouraged her. 

“Okay Tony,” Natasha said softly. “Thank you.”

Tony finished up his mac and cheese and asked to make his and Natasha’s cup of coffee a takeaway. After eating, Natasha and Tony walked back to Building A together, with Tony constantly telling bad jokes to Natasha to try to make her laugh a little. He succeeded. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Natasha and Clint make up?


End file.
